Nerds. Nerds EVERYWHERE...

[didymos]

Now Azkyroth is throwing a "poor me" fit over on Thunderdome. Jesus, these people.

[James Caruthers]

Apparently both Oggie and the person who was fighting with Oggie flounced.

They're children.

[Clarence]

Well, THIS takes balls:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... r-DPP.html

I'm going to put it bluntly: Operation Yewtree is a witch-hunt.
Still, watching large parts of the British political class destroy itself is going to be so much fun.

[Clarence]

I only wish this would happen here in the USA.
Alas, we are too decentralized to have one overarching investigation which can stand or fall on its own, and our states are political fiefdoms with their own rules of law and evidence.

[welch]

http://31.media.tumblr.com/547c2491e948 ... 1_1280.jpg

More craziness.

At least be consistent with your own PRONOUNciation rules.

[Skep tickle]

Nice rundown of the utter debacle that Dashcon 2014 turned into:

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/dash-con-c ... sy-tumblr/

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

What a disaster.

Maybe coming up with Dash con's 50-item conduct policy sucked up all the conference planning time...

[Skep tickle]

Kindle book just released today, 13 Reasons to Doubt, from some of the Skeptic Ink bloggers. [url= Amazon link{/url}

I haven't seen the actual (Kindle) book, but here's the last page of the Table of Contents, from the "expanded view" (a preview, of sorts) at the Amazon page above:

http://i.imgur.com/7vq2HiI.png?2

:think:

[Skep tickle]

Oh, so, now you're going to tell me that Preview is only useful if you actually look at the Preview version before submitting. Sheesh.

Here's that link: US Amazon link

[Satan]

But "decolonization"? :hand: :naughty: :snooty:

In all fairness, she does appear to have been colonized by at least a hundred pounds of excess fat.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

All these talks about Star Trek have really helped me. I was able to skim at least 3 pages without regrets.

[Satan]

Is there anything of use on Tumblr?

There are some decent image sharing pages on Tumblr. That seems to be about it.

The value of a tumblr page seems to be inversely proportional to its wordcount.

[Brive1987]

Ah yes. We also serve.

http://i.imgur.com/iwlZ5FS.jpg

[Skep tickle]

So, I have now confirmed what the table of contents suggests: Ed Clint's 12/2012 blog post Science denialism at a skeptic's conference taking apart Rebecca Watson's evo-psych talk at Skepticon in 11/2012, is now a chapter in a book, and including mentioning Greg Laden & his line about testosterone-damaged women (as in the blog post).

The chapter looks pretty similar to the blog post, but there are a couple of edits; the ones below caught my eye (at midnight; not complete):

"2. Fake experts" section: In the blog post, I don't believe he refers to Marcotte. The section on "Fake experts" now, newly, says that Watson mentioned some of Marcotte's writing to the audience; Clint includes a quote, then closes that section with "Evolutionary psychologist Edward Kurzban has called Marcotte's criticism 'disgusting' and 'ignorant'" with footnote.

"3. Cherry picking" section: The line that in the blog post said "Bearing in mind that Watson has said that evolutionary psychologists are doing what they do in order to oppress women and maintain stereotypes, ..." now says (emphasis added) "Bearing in mind that Watson has said that evolutionary psychologists are doing what they do in order to oppress women, justify rape, and maintain stereotypes, ..."

"5. Misrepresentations and logical fallacies" section: Opening has been changed from (emphasis added):

Please see section V. 25 False and misleading statements made by Watson. In that list, items 1, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20 and 25 are misleading statements. This is not a comprehensive list

to (emphasis added):

Ninety of Watson's errors, false and misleading claims, and other examples of ideologically compromised rationality are listed in the Appendix. Many are variants of misrepresentation and logical fallacies.

:popcorn:

[Brive1987]

No, Oggie will be back. He was still enfolded in a majority embrace. Poor Oggs just wanted to marginalise his harasser.

[Snapfingers]

But "decolonization"? :hand: :naughty: :snooty:

In all fairness, she does appear to have been colonized by at least a hundred pounds of excess fat.

I agree it is a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enema.
I'm really trying to figure out the logic here: is she saying that she is a victim of the fast food business or the tentmakers?

[Søren Lilholt]

Baxter says "Team Radford didn't bother us and we didn't bother them. We CAN all just get along."

Not quite what I'd expect the husband of a sexual assault victim to say about those who publicly support her assaulter (at a conference she spoke at, no less). I'm married, and I can tell you right now that I'd never say anything like that if I genuinely believed that someone had sexually assaulted (and harassed) my wife multiple times. I don't think I'm just being uncharitable when I read this statement as further evidence that the accusations are false.

Very good point. "Live and let live" isn't the attitude people typically take towards genuine rapists.

On the other hand, for feeble-minded individuals embarrassed by their lying psycho spouses, it's perfectly typical.

[windy]

But "decolonization"? :hand: :naughty: :snooty:

In all fairness, she does appear to have been colonized by at least a hundred pounds of excess fat.

Actual colonization (by gut microbes) may also be involved in the development of obesity:

http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/sept ... besity.htm

The team took gut microbes from 4 sets of human twins in which one was lean and the other obese. They introduced the microbes of each twin into different groups of mice that had been raised in a previously germ-free environment. They then observed weight and metabolic changes in the mouse groups when fed the same diet. The results were published in Science on September 6, 2013.

Mice populated with microbes from a lean twin stayed slim, whereas those given microbes from an obese twin quickly gained weight. The “lean” and “obese” microbes had different measurable effects on the body’s metabolism.

[didymos]

Otherkin doc:

http://www.logotv.com/video/what-i-thin ... list.jhtml

[Easy J]

No, Oggie will be back. He was still enfolded in a majority embrace. Poor Oggs just wanted to marginalise his harasser.

Seems an easy call. Where else can he wallow in affection based on acting broken & admitting to have raped little girls?

[BarnOwl]

Helllllooooo moron:

Stupid cow.

[Brive1987]

No, Oggie will be back. He was still enfolded in a majority embrace. Poor Oggs just wanted to marginalise his harasser.

Seems an easy call. Where else can he wallow in affection based on acting broken & admitting to have raped little girls?

I gotta give it Oggie, I'd have never thought of seeking horde-cred via child rape.

Let alone succeeding.

On another note. I've managed to largely ignore this nutter till now.

But really, who the hell is this idiot and why has he a bloggie?

http://i.imgur.com/HMLE2Ev.jpg

[DownThunder]

Helllllooooo moron:

Stupid cow.

Thankfully selfies weren't a thing back when Group B(?) rally was around.

Im surprised she didn't cause them to bowl over like skittles. Those bikes don't like to stay on 2 wheels.

[Brive1987]

Gumby, the web builder spruked by SGU is www.squarespace.com

[Kirbmarc]

http://i.imgur.com/HMLE2Ev.jpg

Grammar Nazi behavior from an illiterate idiot? Priceless.

[windy]

I agree it is a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enema.
I'm really trying to figure out the logic here: is she saying that she is a victim of the fast food business or the tentmakers?

The logic - to use the term loosely - is that women's bodies are colonized by the patriarchy, resulting in fat hatred, exploitation, racism and all manner of problems. Only when the occupation of women's bodies is ended, then fat acceptance, equality, puppies and sunshine for all will follow.

http://swarthmoreindependent.com/2014/0 ... hes-truth/

Body Mass Index (BMI) is an entirely erroneous and useless metric, as it was invented by a “white, male, French astronomer,” Adolphe Quetelet. Thus BMI has “direct links to a white supremacist, patriarchal, colonizing, exploitative force.” [Quetelet was actually a Belgian mathematician – but a man responsible for evilness of this degree merits having his experience diminished and inaccurately represented, fair representation of facts be damned].

[Snapfingers]

The logic - to use the term loosely - is that women's bodies are colonized by the patriarchy, resulting in fat hatred, exploitation, racism and all manner of problems. Only when the occupation of women's bodies is ended, then fat acceptance, equality, puppies and sunshine for all will follow.

http://swarthmoreindependent.com/2014/0 ... hes-truth/

]

So if i find her repulsive I'm a misogynistic colonizer, and if I find her attractive I'm objectifying her as the eye-rapist I am? Fuck me I find it increasingly difficult to be an ally in gender equality. I will shut up and listen some more. I'll get it right sooner or later. Thank you for fatsplaining this, mr. Feminist.

[rayshul]

Pamplona selfies?

[Tribble]

The original ending was that you had to make the choice of sacrificing humanity to be adsorbed by the Reapers so they could stop the spread of Dark Energy with a small army of genetically diverse human Reapers OR tell the Reapers to fuck off (probably destroy them) and put faith in the fact if all races in the galaxy know of the Dark Energy threat, they can probably find a way to counter it.

All that thrown away for a shite plot and lame-ass ending.

My understanding is that the ending was a script written and imposed by the project lead Casey Hudson [1].

Honestly though, that ending you mentioned sounds just as horrible. Humans are not a very genetically diverse species [2]. Such an ending would turn Mass Effect into yet another SF series with an unnecessary element of human exceptionalism. Plus, genes are just chemicals in the end, and I don't believe a species as advanced as the Leviathans/Reapers would find themselves limited to harvest what evolution has produced.

1: http://www.gamesthirst.com/2012/03/25/m ... ys-silent/
2: http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/gen ... y-genetics

1, Hudson was the lead, but not the only one who went with that script. There were two of them with decision power who went with that script and I'll be damned if I remember who the second person was off the top of my head. But I do remember their interview and how they were clear it was a joint decision.

2. It don't think it was really so much about exceptionalism, though the story you 'defend' (for lack of a better word) didn't change it. Even with the plot change, it was still the Human Sheppard Story.

The reason I think it doesn't have much, if anything, to do with the exceptionalism argument is that BioWare was already in the process of hemorrhaging cash because of the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO which started full-time development in 2006. When EA bought BioWare in late 2007 they had to retire/assume $180 million in debt because of SWTOR as well as pay out $860 million for the equity.

So I think I'd be foolishly naive to believe money was not a factor in the development choice to downsize player avatar (race) options as well as their decision in cutting out the complex script with lots of voice acting for something that was more of a shoot-them-up with an online-cooperative add-on designed to get another $10 out of you by forcing you to purchase an Online Pass. You could also see it in all the recycled assets, assets/stories disabled for DLC, on-disc 'Day 1' DLC, poorly rendered assets where it's clear they weren't funded much past concept (a lot of the ending assets were very primitive) and cheap-assed stock artwork they threw into the game, like the ending narration scene and Tali Zorah (among many):

http://download.gamezone.com/uploads/im ... _stock.jpg

Amazingly human don't you think? Did you notice her hands? They just airbrushed out two fingers. They didn't even try...

So, yeah, there weren't a lot of options but I think human exceptionalism was a budget constraint -- limiting the very-expensive, fully-voiced protagonists to two -- not a human exceptionalism thing. Because, let's face it they were too busy dropping a couple of hundred million into SWTOR and money does not grow on trees.

So

BioWare before SWTOR -- lots of player avatar choices (except Jade Empire which took place of a Chinese Fantasy Earth) when it came to races -- elves, humans, dwarves, halflings, half-orcs, etc. in NWN. You had humans, dwarves and eleves in DA:O.

Bioware after SWTOR starts sucking cash down like a crack addict on a bender -- your choices were male/female human -- DA2 & ME series.

Now that BioWare is cash-happy because EA rescued it: DA:I -- - human, dwarf, elf or qunari in both genders. They're adding tons of new, expensive to create and animate resouces, they're substantially increasing the depth and quality-playtime of the game. They're even making it so we can craft our old backstory if we no longer have our DA:O and DA2 save games:

On August 28, 2013, it was announced that players will be able to create their own specific canon and customize all important decisions from previous games in a cloud-based system called Dragon Age Keep. This new system will also solve plot logic issues that occurred when importing save-games in previous titles.[31][32]

The Keep system aims to allow the player to customize cross-generational and cross-console world-states, ideally circumventing import bugs or other issues. According to Mark Darrah, BioWare is looking into the possibility of traditional save game transfers via the Keep, as well.[33] Unconnected consoles will not be able to access the Dragon Age Keep,[34] though it will be able to be downloaded onto a PC or tablet initially and then introduced to a console.[35]

Players who do not have or choose not to import a world-state into Inquisition will be provided a default "canon" as in Dragon Age II: an "Ultimate Sacrifice" Dalish Warden, Alistair made King, and Hawke a mage who sided with the mages in DA2.[36] Mark Darrah and Aaryn Flynn indicated as well that choices from Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening and other DLC will also impact playthroughs.[37][38]

That costs money. And I bet it's a lot more than licensing a stock photo and airbrushing out two fingers...

[Brive1987]

Watson's Patron has reached an all time high (in my records) of 286 / $762.

On the 12th it was 282 / $658.

Previous high was in May @ 249. / $720.

I reckon one day she could break a grand ...

[justinvacula]

Sharon Hill offers recap of TAM including mention of Tavris' talk:

http://doubtfulnews.com/2014/07/skeptic ... education/

Carol Tavris, renowned social psychologist, author, and advocate for evidence-based skepticism, gave a talk called “Who’s Lying, Who’s Self-Justifying? Origins of the He Said/She Said Gap in Sexual Allegations” which was one of the most powerful and controversial talks during the event. Backed with a various array of peer-reviewed scientific research, she discussed sexual assault reports, rape allegations, evidence, memory, bias, justification, poor communication and feminism. Skeptics require evidence to make a conclusion, even in cases of rape allegations. This is intuitive to many of us but is strangely brushed aside by a few self-titled “feminists” whom (at least previously) identified themselves with the skeptical community. Some of these outspoken bloggers are quick to demonize men who have been accused of sexual harassment. No evidence beside what “she said” is needed in their book. That is demonstrably NOT APPLYING SKEPTICISM. The Twitterverse tweeted about Tavris’ talk with several gripes coming from those who were not even in attendance to hear the talk.

[sinister]

Sharon Hill offers recap of TAM including mention of Tavris' talk:

http://doubtfulnews.com/2014/07/skeptic ... education/

Carol Tavris, renowned social psychologist, author, and advocate for evidence-based skepticism, gave a talk called “Who’s Lying, Who’s Self-Justifying? Origins of the He Said/She Said Gap in Sexual Allegations” which was one of the most powerful and controversial talks during the event. Backed with a various array of peer-reviewed scientific research, she discussed sexual assault reports, rape allegations, evidence, memory, bias, justification, poor communication and feminism. Skeptics require evidence to make a conclusion, even in cases of rape allegations. This is intuitive to many of us but is strangely brushed aside by a few self-titled “feminists” whom (at least previously) identified themselves with the skeptical community. Some of these outspoken bloggers are quick to demonize men who have been accused of sexual harassment. No evidence beside what “she said” is needed in their book. That is demonstrably NOT APPLYING SKEPTICISM. The Twitterverse tweeted about Tavris’ talk with several gripes coming from those who were not even in attendance to hear the talk.

So many sister punishers!

[Brive1987]

JREF really needs to 'denounce the shit'. :)

[sinister]

Brive, the current hornbeck exchange is cringe worthy. I guess he forgot he wasn't among the hoard anymore?

[ERV]

Didn't C0nc0rdance blame the pit for his leaving FTB?

No-- I know what you're talking about, but I don't remember the name of that vlogger. But it wasn't c0nc0rdance. He's good people.

[Barael]

Didn't C0nc0rdance blame the pit for his leaving FTB?

No-- I know what you're talking about, but I don't remember the name of that vlogger. But it wasn't c0nc0rdance. He's good people.

NonStampCollector, I think.

[ERV]

Also, Elyse on Twitter. If I've said it once, I've said it 10000000 times-- Elyse is my favorite Twitterer.

[Tony Parsehole]

Also, Elyse on Twitter. If I've said it once, I've said it 10000000 times-- Elyse is my favorite Twitterer.

Nice. Looks like she's in the middle of another public breakdown.
https://twitter.com/dELYSEious

[Tony Parsehole]

Elyse is currently (among other things) grassing up her ex-besty, Courntey, for buying drugs on the black market. This is a woman that Elyse once said she would die for. lol.

Check her feed out right now. This is going to be grand.

[real horrorshow]

Nice rundown of the utter debacle that Dashcon 2014 turned into:

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/dash-con-c ... sy-tumblr/

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

I'm being 90% serious:

Is there anything of use on Tumblr? Has Tumblr ever done any good for the sane world?

Well, it uses up the time and energy of people who might otherwise be raving in the streets and incommoding the passers-by.

[Jonathan]

Also, Elyse on Twitter. If I've said it once, I've said it 10000000 times-- Elyse is my favorite Twitterer.

Nice. Looks like she's in the middle of another public breakdown.
https://twitter.com/dELYSEious

When is she going to STOP being like SARA MAYHEW.

[Aneris]

Elyse is currently (among other things) grassing up her ex-besty, Courntey, for buying drugs on the black market. This is a woman that Elyse once said she would die for. lol.
[.tweet][/tweet]
[.tweet][/tweet]
Check her feed out right now. This is going to be grand.

Right after that it looks rather grim. I find it terrible. It is now like rubbernecking a proverbial trainwreck — nothing for me.

[Tony Parsehole]

Elyse is currently (among other things) grassing up her ex-besty, Courntey, for buying drugs on the black market. This is a woman that Elyse once said she would die for. lol.
[.tweet][/tweet]
[.tweet][/tweet]
Check her feed out right now. This is going to be grand.

Right after that it looks rather grim. I find it terrible. It is now like rubbernecking a proverbial trainwreck — nothing for me.

You have way more sympathy than me.

[didymos]

Wow. What a shock. :bjarte:

[didymos]

Also, gotta love this from her de-Skepchicking meltdown:

So much for that, huh?

[guest]

i thought that if youre sueing Sara Mayhew for libel you shouldnt be libeling other people too?

http://www.anony.ws/i/2014/07/14/dELYSE ... itter1.jpg

[Tony Parsehole]

Also, gotta love this from her de-Skepchicking meltdown:

So much for that, huh?

To be fair she's not selling them to the highest bidder. She's giving them to everybody for free. lol.

That bloke she's responding to is pretty funny too in a very random, weird way.

[Southern]

I gotta give it Oggie, I'd have never thought of seeking horde-cred via child rape.

Let alone succeeding.

On another note. I've managed to largely ignore this nutter till now.

But really, who the hell is this idiot and why has he a bloggie?

http://i.imgur.com/HMLE2Ev.jpg

Oh, you're discovering about our good pal Proffe just now? You don't know what you've been losing! Mainly two things: risotto recipes, and "Moby Dickee". So there's that.

[didymos]

Meanwhile, here is what Mr. Anders has been up to:

[Southern]

http://i.imgur.com/HMLE2Ev.jpg

Grammar Nazi behavior from an illiterate idiot? Priceless.

I'm noticing just now that Proffe's drink has a tennis ball on it instead of an ice cube.

That explains everything.

[welch]

Also, Elyse on Twitter. If I've said it once, I've said it 10000000 times-- Elyse is my favorite Twitterer.

Nice. Looks like she's in the middle of another public breakdown.
https://twitter.com/dELYSEious

I'm unsure how to feel. Normally, I'd feel some sympathy. But Elyse has gone out of her way to purge that tendency. From well, everyone as far as I can gather.

But there is no small amount of schadenfreude in watching someone who would know prove that Watson et al are exactly as petty and small as I thought they were. Which explains the turnover rate there.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

LOL.

It's no wonder Stefunny can lie so glibly to others, when she can deceive herself with such ease:

http://i.imgur.com/jDFF2I7.png

Her appearances "at the edges" of all those social groups are no doubt preceded by whispers of 'Oh, Gawd -- it's her again!'

[welch]

Also, gotta love this from her de-Skepchicking meltdown:

So much for that, huh?

It's hard to fully separate from a group that had you hoodwinked for that long. It will eventually happen.

[Tony Parsehole]

Wow. What a shock. :bjarte:

You mean uploading videos of your infant daughter pouring your wine and swearing whilst you brag how much weed you've smoked ISN'T considered good parenting?

[katamari Damassi]

Didn't C0nc0rdance blame the pit for his leaving FTB?

No-- I know what you're talking about, but I don't remember the name of that vlogger. But it wasn't c0nc0rdance. He's good people.

NonStampCollector, I think.

Yep. Now I remember.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

I liked Worf a lot in TNG - I didn't particularly care for the episodes in which his son appeared, or in which he was a whipped, tamed Klingon. The episodes set in the Klingon home world were awesome, however, especially the Redemption ones.

My favorite TNG line of all time: Q appearing on the bridge and asking Worf "Eat any good books lately?" Worf's expression was priceless.

... and I also liked the "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" one.

Blecch. That made me cringe.

The Darmok episode became such an in-group reference-fest amongst grad school friends for me, that I can no longer remember how I really felt about it. Sometimes I'm tempted to use it when introducing a crapton of neuroscience terminology to students, but so far I've resisted.

FWIW, I liked that episode. Interesting take on how language influences culture influences weltanschauung.

[Tribble]

Sharon Hill offers recap of TAM including mention of Tavris' talk:

http://doubtfulnews.com/2014/07/skeptic ... education/

Carol Tavris, renowned social psychologist, author, and advocate for evidence-based skepticism, gave a talk called “Who’s Lying, Who’s Self-Justifying? Origins of the He Said/She Said Gap in Sexual Allegations” which was one of the most powerful and controversial talks during the event. Backed with a various array of peer-reviewed scientific research, she discussed sexual assault reports, rape allegations, evidence, memory, bias, justification, poor communication and feminism. Skeptics require evidence to make a conclusion, even in cases of rape allegations. This is intuitive to many of us but is strangely brushed aside by a few self-titled “feminists” whom (at least previously) identified themselves with the skeptical community. Some of these outspoken bloggers are quick to demonize men who have been accused of sexual harassment. No evidence beside what “she said” is needed in their book. That is demonstrably NOT APPLYING SKEPTICISM. The Twitterverse tweeted about Tavris’ talk with several gripes coming from those who were not even in attendance to hear the talk.

Of course. This is why so many of us who are ACTUAL skeptics think they're a bunch of lunatics who shouldn't have any influence on the greater A/S community. And why so many of us think feminism poisons everything it touches because it, fundamentally, is un-skeptical with the doctrine that 'allegations of any male 'crime' are true.'

It's like the recent on-campus rape kerfluffle that was link to a day or two ago. In the story the girl claims she received an open-container of beer from one of the alleged rapists and remembers nothing after that insinuating she was give date-rape drugs and, therefore, wasn't responsible for anything that happened later. Yet she was tested for date-rape drugs (according to the article) and there were none.

So now the $64 question is -- is she lying about being because she's embarrassed to have gone 'girls gone wild' while totally shitfaced or was she actually raped during the period covered by her alcoholic blackout? And that question is irrespective of all the other issues we can see in the article that tug both ways, including incompetency of the college's examination and the DA saying there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute.

[Tribble]

That's what 'friends' are for. Though, if I remember right, she was giving out 'names' which are legally protected and not released by DCFS.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

PS - Just noticing Justin's update on Baxter's tweets. Sounds like he is not so confident about any legal battle with Radford. His language is one of settling and forgetting everything. That is a big contrast to 4-5 months ago when the Baboons were cheering him and Karen on....

Yeah, you don't say, 'ya know what? This town is big enough for the both of us!' unless you figure you'll lose the gunfight.

Baxter is well aware of Psycho Karen's pathological lying. But he's caught on the horns of a dilemma, as he's also getting laid for the first time in his life.

[katamari Damassi]

Hey Abbie, there are companies that purport to test for the CCR Delta 32 mutation. Is it worth getting done?

[Matt Cavanaugh]

http://i.imgur.com/HMLE2Ev.jpg

Grammar Nazi behavior from an illiterate idiot? Priceless.

I'm noticing just now that Proffe's drink has a tennis ball on it instead of an ice cube.

That explains everything.

He's whining about Runs Batted In, and wearing a baseball cap with "NY" on it. That's a baseball with the classic red stitching.

Dark blue cap would indicate a yankees fan, which explains why the Proffe is suche a fukken asse holle.