Nerds. Nerds EVERYWHERE...

[debaser71]

sell INTC

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/techn ... rsity.html

"The company also said it would invest in efforts to bring more women into the games business, partly as an antidote to the harassment feminist critics and game developers have faced in recent months. Intel became part of the furor last year when, under pressure, it withdrew an advertising campaign from a game website that had run an essay by a feminist game critic, a move it later said it regretted."

$300 mill PR move?

[Really?]

I am fully in support of Muscato's decision to become Danielle in public. Smashing. Good on her.

But I'm not sure how I feel about her choice of Twitter avatar.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/54 ... 00x400.png

On the other hand, I guess I shouldn't be ashamed of showing everyone what I really look like:

http://worldsbestfacts.com/wp-content/u ... 24x768.jpg

[CaptainFluffyBunny]

I am fully in support of Muscato's decision to become Danielle in public. Smashing. Good on her.

But I'm not sure how I feel about her choice of Twitter avatar.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/54 ... 00x400.png

On the other hand, I guess I shouldn't be ashamed of showing everyone what I really look like:

http://worldsbestfacts.com/wp-content/u ... 24x768.jpg

Huh, for some reason I thought you were straight...

[SoylentAtheist]

On the other hand, I guess I shouldn't be ashamed of showing everyone what I really look like:

http://worldsbestfacts.com/wp-content/u ... 24x768.jpg

Huh, for some reason I thought you were straight...

He is. Just like John Greg & crew.

Ya, I'm wondering about that too. For most of my 58 years, on this woeful plane, I've been a big fan of teh Pussy. Lately, for some reason or other whose cause I am unaware of, I have become a big fan of teh Dick, and quite enjoy the occasional anonymous visit to the local steam room. :shhh:

Go figure. :think:

I am unaware of what might have caused this change, and it has been gradual, but I now find the idea of giving BJs as arousing as I once found the idea (and act) of giving cunilinguals arousing. And I no longer much find the idea of giving cunilinguals much arousing at all.

...I know, I know, your full explanations are more nuanced than that. Just giving ya'll a hard time. Pounce tugs for all.

That said, clearly they have lived to the point that they are getting bored with the same old-same old.

If you live long enough, soon you will be jonesing to screw your great great grand children, your clone, and then you will just have to time travel back to screw your own mother to father yourself just to keep it interesting.

http://i.imgur.com/4EVohrI.jpg

[franc]

Ronald MacDonald is rattling the beggars cup again -

https://archive.today/1XEcM

[SoylentAtheist]

I am fully in support of Muscato's decision to become Danielle in public. Smashing. Good on her.
But I'm not sure how I feel about her choice of Twitter avatar.
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/54 ... 00x400.png

Personally I think Danielle has made some amazing progress.

http://i.imgur.com/I1Lfuv8.jpg

[Southern]

Fuck my luck. Guess who's up to 2 AM in the morning reinstalling Piece of Crap OS 7 because apparently installing RaidCall is too difficult for it to handle, and it wouldn't restart anymore?

If only I could stop gaming, then I could be happy. Or if Blizzard just did a Linux port of their garbage. But I guess that they don't have enough time nor money with just 13 million subscribers to WoW alone. Poor bastards.

[another lurker]

Fuck my luck. Guess who's up to 2 AM in the morning reinstalling Piece of Crap OS 7 because apparently installing RaidCall is too difficult for it to handle, and it wouldn't restart anymore?

If only I could stop gaming, then I could be happy. Or if Blizzard just did a Linux port of their garbage. But I guess that they don't have enough time nor money with just 13 million subscribers to WoW alone. Poor bastards.

Is the gun still warm?..

[youtube]a1sf2CzEq0w[/youtube]

[BarnOwl]

Fuck my luck. Guess who's up to 2 AM in the morning reinstalling Piece of Crap OS 7 because apparently installing RaidCall is too difficult for it to handle, and it wouldn't restart anymore?

If only I could stop gaming, then I could be happy. Or if Blizzard just did a Linux port of their garbage. But I guess that they don't have enough time nor money with just 13 million subscribers to WoW alone. Poor bastards.

Is the gun still warm?..

[youtube]a1sf2CzEq0w[/youtube]

::lulz:: that video!

Sometimes I kinda miss my 1980s short moussed 'do. Maybe I should have the long curly mane shorn again.

[franc]

#gamergate shit - the theatrics that should ring familiar:

[Parody Accountant]

Yeah, I've made peace with it. It is not okay when either side uses deception. I'm rationalizing it like this: I use deception to cause people to look for themselves or think for themselves.

You fucking dingbat. It's no longer "deception" if you keep bragging about it in a public space. Whatever "good" you may have done, you have utterly trashed by not shutting up about it.

Duh.

exactly. What a fucking moron.

[Parody Accountant]

I love alcohol.

[Gefan]

So, I was perusing the ED article on Brianna Wu and stumbled across the following piece of her artwork:

http://i.imgur.com/6eefcMD.jpg

A "tentacle robot" menacing some manacled women.

Huh.

Coincidence, I'm sure.

And Peez? Since we all know you're reading this, in the highly unlikely event that this image isn't already stashed away on your (doubtless sticky) laptop, you're welcome.

[Lurker, caught up.]

I love alcohol.

I Loved Heroin, but she didn't love me or treat me very well and I had to break up with her. I hope you are not in a bad relationship with the drink.
All the best to you.

[Biohazard]

Don't know if anyone has posted this or not:

“Microaggressions”, “Trigger Warnings”, and the New Meaning of “Trauma”

[SoylentAtheist]

Don't know if anyone has posted this or not:
“Microaggressions”, “Trigger Warnings”, and the New Meaning of “Trauma”

He needs to be the next speaker on the circuit for Skepticon, CFI, Women in Secularism & American Atheists.

Someone needs to say it.

[Kirbmarc]

Apparently if you write the sentence "there's no need to completely reshape society to protect people from rape" you're now a MRA.

I fail to see the connection between the sentence and the idea of men's rights. Care to enlighten me?

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Damn, but that blondein_tokyo character at Hemant's blog is a real pain in the ass.

Tigzy, Guestus, Parsehole, you have more patience than I could ever have. And I used to fish as a kid!

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyat ... qus_thread

[Skep tickle]

I haven't done such a long post in quite a long time, but I think I remember how to. *clears throat* Ladies and gentlemen, get your scrolling finger ready.

So I have been puzzling over this Gateway to Reason (G2R) conference, scheduled for the weekend over the end of July & start of August, 2015, in St Louis MO.

I poked around & saw what I could find. The reviews online about the venue hotel prompted me to put this post together. Of course, if you're interested in going, go! But my recommendation for anyone planning to go, as attendee OR as speaker, is to strongly consider staying somewhere other than the venue hotel. More about that in the 2nd post (since it wouldn't all fit into one).

Besides that, as an attendee recognize that you'll be on your own for all meals (with 1 hour meal windows and the venue's bar & grill doesn't open till 3 or 4pm) unless you purchase the extra $125 "VIP" pass (limited to 100 people). Also, the savvy traveler might wish to avoid purchasing nonrefundable airline tickets, just in case.

Relevant background: I've been involved in the planning of maybe 6 conferences in the past 10 years, all but one work-related. The ones I've been involved in had similar numbers of speakers as Gateway to Reason but smaller audiences and held over fewer days, usually just 1 day. (G2R has 21 speaker slots and the ballroom where it's meeting can hold 400 people, per G2R website; it'll last 3 days.) There was sometimes staff from a national organization available to help with logistics, of which there are many. Even with that assistance, it's quite a bit of work, and it costs a lot with venue, food, and speaker expenses making up most of the budget.

Couple of unusual things about G2R.

First, it's not clear who's involved in setting up this conference, other than Mr Thom True. (His name's on the @G2RSTL twitter account, on the conference's lanyrd page, and as the organizer at the Eventbrite page.) The G2R home page says "The conference is being hosted by 'Gateway to Reason' meet up group in St. Louis" and gives the day/time/place of the weekly meeting, advising (w/o link) that people can "sign up at Meetup.com" and email to confirm. I'm not seeing a group called "Gateway to Reason" in the St Louis area on Meetup.com, but perhaps that's my weak Meetup-searching skills, or perhaps they are under a different name there.

But, still. A conference could be great with one energetic, enthusiastic, organized person planning it, & maybe there's a supportive active group all pitching in but they all just decided his name would be the one up front.

Second, will the funding adequate to pay it off? Registration is open at Eventbrite:

• $25 "early bird" (through May 30 per Eventbrite, or through April 30 per G2R website; then up to $35 online and $50 at the door)
• $125 "VIP tickets Friday Evening reception only " with the "More" link explaining that "This ticket does NOT get into the conference, you must also purchase a regular price ticket to attend the conference" and the G2R site's Join the Fun page explaining that "food and drink are all part of your VIP experience...The VIP experience includes food, soft drinks, domestic beer, and wine" and "each ticket will include the latest books or projects of the speakers. {Many signed by the authors.} Also, t-shirts of the event and mugs and other memorabilia will be included."
• $250 vendor table
• $500 sponsor table which includes a VIP ticket for one and "immediate web presence". (If there are already sponsors, that's not clear; the logo for Polaris Financial features prominently, with link to the company page, at Phil Ferguson's listing on page 2 of Speakers but it's not clear that means Polaris is a conference sponsor).

There's an offer for potential free admission for volunteering.

The "Just for Fun" page linked above says "There is seating for 400 attendees". So, let's make some guesses at costs & revenue.

Expenses - the speaker & venue expenses below are fixed; there's also food/alcohol/"freebies" for the VIP passholders, but the cost of those'll come out of the VIP fees. Let's say:

A) 21 speakers x let's say $500 each (on average) = $10,500
(the $500 for airfare & other travel expenses and hotel costs, beer/wine/food at the VIP reception, since they - the ones who are in town on Friday PM - are the draw for the reception, hopefully food during the conference but it may be 3 buffet meals)

B) The venue, meaning rental of the Stratford Inn's ballroom from Friday at noon through Sunday at 6pm on a summer weekend - I have no idea how much this might cost. See hotel reviews below; it may be that the Inn has fallen on hard times & will rent it out cheap. Wild guess, $750 for the 3 days. That seems low, but wait till you see those reviews in my next post.

So that's maybe $11,250 of relatively fixed expense, no matter how many people register for the conference or how many sponsors it gets.

Income - this is more variable than expenses & harder to estimate:
A) 400 attendees x $25 = $10,000 income if there's full registration at the Early Bird fee. Some may pay more ($35 after 4/30 or 5/30 as above, or $50 at the door), but then some of the seats may be taken by speakers and/or volunteers (unless those are already accounted for, & the "400" are the seats planned for paying customers).

B) Some attendees (anywhere from 0 - 100 people) will buy VIP passes, an extra $125 each on top of registration; let's say that nets $80/pass (which may be an overestimate), as an estimated $45 of the fee goes to their 3 buffet meals that weekend, beer/wine for VIP reception, and T-shirts/mugs/etc. So that could be anywhere from $0 - $8,000 - the more the better.

c) Vendor tables & sponsors would be a wild guess at this point. Obviously, the more the better, for the financial health of the conference.

d) Donations - the G2R website & Eventbrite site are set up to accept donations; as above, the more the better.

So, as with any conference the income sources are key, and attracting attendees. I applaud the presence of a registration fee; I think Skepticon's model of offering the conference for free but having to ramp up the pre-conference requests for donations to (try to) cover the costs makes no financial sense. The fee being low may help attract people, especially people within driving distance. It may be completely coincidental that $25 is the # that's been quoted as how much (meaning, how little) Skepticon would have had to charge to cover its expenses from registration fees, at least in 2012 when about 1500 people attended. This conference won't have as high expenses, but especially as a 1st-time conference (AFAICT) in a summer fairly crowded with conferences (& vacation time) it may not draw a full house.

For comparison, 2 conferences occurring earlier in the summer in 2015 over a similar # of days:

• Imagine No Religion 5 in Vancouver BC has tickets at $359 (no meals) or $479 (5 meals); it's in a more expensive venue (by dint of being in Vancouver rather than on the outskirts of St Louis MO)
• CFI's Reason for Change has tickets at $279 general admission, $49 students (venue cost at the Buffalo Hilton is probably between G2R and INR5)

I'm not saying it's "good" or "bad" that these other conferences cost more, just that they'll probably more readily break even.

continues ->

[Dick Strawkins]

Ronald MacDonald is rattling the beggars cup again -

https://archive.today/1XEcM

He got an invite to a conference and has to pay the expenses himself and doesn't get a speaking fee.
He complains (again) that this isn't fair:

I’ve written before that speaking work like this is work – that we need to acknowledge it as such, and that if it’s unpaid, the only people on the speaking circuit will be well-off lobbyists or academics well off enough to do work for free, covering the expenses involved out of their own pockets.

In a way I kind of agree with him - but only in as much as I agree with that line attributed to Churchill: "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried".

McGabriel has written about this before and the fact that his biggest cheerleaders at that time were Stephanie Zmear and Greta Christina should set alarm bells ringing in anyones head.

The obsession from the FTB bunch with the conference circuit is mainly viewed as them power tripping and getting off on the feelings of superiority it brings them as they are flown in, hosted and admitted for free, only to sit together pontificating on 'expert' panels in front of the proletarian scum who actually pay to attend.
While this accommodation undoubtedly costs the organisers of these events dearly (it must cost a more than small fortune every year for these organisations to host these events which are generally little more than paid parties for the in crowd), it generates little cash-in-hand to the speakers - at least for those D-listers at the FTB friendly events.

At the same time genuine achievers like Dawkins of Harris command huge fees when asked to attend events.
There's obviously a very big pie here that FTB greedily covets - no doubt to carve up solely amongst themselves.

Like I said, I kind of agree with McGabriel. There should be some way of treating speaking at atheist/skeptical events as work. But work involves more than just payment; it also involves abilities, experiences, performance and responsibility.
Making up your talk on the plane (Hi Becky, hic!) or rehashing the same talk on evolution you've given for the past ten years (Hi Peezus!) or giving a publicity talk for your book (Hi Greta!) are not things we should regard as professional behaviours that deserve financial rewards.
And certainly sitting on a panel of your friends, pretending to be an expert in something you have no qualifications or professional experience, should not only not be financially rewarded but shouldn't be part of any serious conference from the outset.

Yes, get well qualified professional people to give talks - and pay them to do so - agreed.
But have a system in place that ensures that unqualified charlatans are not supported (and that includes you and your friends, McGabriel.)

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

I haven't done such a long post in quite a long time, but I think I remember how to. *clears throat* Ladies and gentlemen, get your scrolling finger ready.

Amateur! I once posted the whole internet at Abbie's ERV.

[Skep tickle]

-> Gateway to Reason pondering continues:

Third, what will the attendee experience be like:

a) Meals. There are 3 mealtimes on the schedule ("Dinner" at noon Sat & Sun; "Supper" at 5pm on Sat)...and there's no meals provided, except for VIP passholders (and, one hopes, speakers), though AFAICT that's not obvious from the basic conference info or registration info. The "Just for Fun" page linked above indicates that's the case by saying that food IS included for VIP passholders. That meals are not included is also suggested by the Meals page, which gives a list of local restaurants (from the top: Krispy Kreme, McDonald's, Denny's...) - and also attendees of other Midwest conferences, like Skepticon, may be used to having to find their own food during the conference day.

The last restaurant listed is the Stratford Bar & Grill, which opens at 3pm so won't be an option for breakfast or lunch. Friday night is ladies' night, though, so there's a plus :) All of the other food venues are within a mile, but a 1 hr break is just not long enough to leave the conference venue, walk to a nearby restaurant, order & eat your meal, & return.

Well, actually, for McDonald's it's plenty of time. So no problem then.

b) Hotel. This is really why I decided to write this post. The G2R Where to Stay page says the venue hotel, the Stratford Inn, has reduced rates for the conference, but not many rooms. (The Inn's website says it has 150; they're probably holding a block of rooms for conference attendees...and maybe speakers?)

Unfortunately, the Stratford Inn does not have good reviews as a place to stay. Here’s what I turned up, with overall reviews and the 2014 hotel review comments I turned up. The 1st 2 links below have the reviews sorted by date, most recent 1st as they're likely the most applicable to the current management etc. Note that 1 star is the lowest and 5 stars is the highest score.

i) TripAdvisor:
Overall: 21 of 34 reviews, or 62%, rated it “terrible” (1 star ouf ot 5); the rest were spread pretty evenly between 2, 3, 4, and 5 stars.

Rates it as #6 out of 8 hotels in the area.

The one 2014 review, from 8/2014: 1 star of 5

Wish I could give it zero stars. This entire building needs to be condemned! Everything is disgusting, a serious health hazard. The carpets and mattresses are stained and stinky, the walls are peeling and broken, this is a place where people stay for weeks, months, even years, and trash the place. There are cigarette butts everywhere and the entire building reeks of stale, rotting cigarette smoke. I was offered to buy drugs twice (also asked if I had any). The staff are nice however, it's obvious the owners don't care about anything here. When I told the cleaning lady "no offense, but I'm never staying here again", she gave a sympathetic smile and said she hears that a lot and doesn't blame me. I'm seriously considering calling the health department about this place, it's very very unsanitary and probably dangerous to people's health. Walk in the front lobby and you'll see what I'm saying. :(

ii) Yelp:
Overall score 1.5 out of 5. 5 of 9 reviews rated it 1; two 2’s and two 3’s, no 4’s and no 5’s.

9/2014 review – rated the bar 1 out of 5 (didn’t rate rooms)

The two 2014 hotel reviews:
8/2014: rated hotel 1 out of 5

Ugh. Cheap rooms if you need a place to pass out drunk or something, but that's about it. Booked 5 rooms for me and a large group to crash in after a bachelor party. It served its purpose, but I woke up with hives all over me and was itching horribly. Something to do with the horrible bed I guess. The staff is useless, the place is falling apart, but it is somewhat legendary in Fenton. Check out the bar amd volleyball, but I don't recommend staying the night!

6/2014: – rated hotel 1 out of 5

One star, the service sucks the rooms are filthy, bad plumbing, one star is too much .... 00 is more appropriate, if the company know what this place is really like they would ask for a refund

These are the only other 2 review sites that came up on the first page of my search:

iii) CitySearch: Only one review, “recommends” the bar but no rating or date given; reviewer thinks owner or manager runs off the good staff

iv) Hotels Combined:
This site seems to be editable by hotel management; there's a link at the bottom that says "Represent this property? Manage your listing here" - I therefore take these results with a big grain of salt

For the Stratford Inn entry, 22 reviews from different sites were apparently combined; doesn’t say which dates or sites, and no links to source reviews or sites.

Overall rating 4.6 but doesn’t say max # of points; from the graphic there, it looks like it’s 4.6 out of 10.

Summarizes the 22 reviews w/ 3 thumbs up & 2 thumbs down:

• Seven guests mentioned the staff in a review, seven found them helpful and polite
• Six guests mentioned the room cleanliness in a review, six felt they were very clean
• We found two reviews that said the hotel is in a convenient location
• Out of three reviews about the beds, two said they were unclean
• Two guests thought the rooms were noisy

___

So, yeah. Seems like a wise move to consider staying at one of the other hotels if you're going to G2R, whether as speaker or attendee. And more power to the conference organizer; I do hope he has help in arranging this event.

[James Caruthers]

Apparently if you write the sentence "there's no need to completely reshape society to protect people from rape" you're now a MRA.

I fail to see the connection between the sentence and the idea of men's rights. Care to enlighten me?

Any opposition to the most extreme version of SJW feminism is the same as declaring your undying desire to keep women barefoot, pregnant and transformed into mermaids for sexytimes in the kitchen.

Educate yourself, fecal baron! :naughty:

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

The most I've ever been paid directly for a gig was 20 euros. And all the hotels I've stayed in were crap.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

The most I've ever been paid directly for a gig was 20 euros. And all the hotels I've stayed in were crap.

[youtube]XdofmoYcJNE[/youtube]

[James Caruthers]

Attending atheist conferences? Pfft, what am I, some kind of rapist?

As we are all well aware, only rapists and FTBloggers attend atheist conventions! And never the twain shall meet, except in the elevator at 4 AM!

[James Caruthers]

The most I've ever been paid directly for a gig was 20 euros. And all the hotels I've stayed in were crap.

[youtube]XdofmoYcJNE[/youtube]

[youtube]qWPwfQcPS5s[/youtube]

You burned yourself pretty good there.

The ultimate :ninja:

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

You burned yourself pretty good there.

The ultimate :ninja:

Twas a preemptive strike.

Although, but, however, isn't that Eugene Crabs song some sort of rip-off of the Schindler's List theme?

[Kirbmarc]

Here's an exchange on Hemant Mehta's blog. I'm posying it here too in case Psycho Gecko decides to delete his post, or Disqus fails to preserve mine:

To quote the Slymepit: "there's no need to completely reshape society to protect people from rape."

To be fair, that was from a thread justifying George Zimmerman and telling people to STFU about him, NOT from the thread about wanting to see a FtB blogger in a Leia slave outfit from Return of the Jedi, so it's clear that there's a little variety of bigots there.

Quote mining is bad, Psycho Gecko. Please don't do do that.

Here's the sentence you quoted in context:

"If all victims of rape are encouraged to go to the police and more rapists are reported to the police and arrested sooner or later even most of their [the Social Justice Warriors] audience will realize that Western culture works pretty well as it is and while there is always room for improvement there's no need to completely reshape society to protect people from rape."

As you can see the sentence doesn't mean that there is nothing more that can be done to deal with rape, or that laws or social attitudes cannot be changed if it is proven that they're detrimental to the fight against rape.

What is argued against in this sentence is the need to completely reshape society to reduce the number of rapes.

Some "Social Justice Warriors" argue that we should reject the idea that people are innocent until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt and substitute it with the "preponderance of evidence", which basically means that since an accusation of rape is taken as evidence (this is the real meaning of the meme "believe the victims") it's the accused who has to prove their innocence. They also argue for public shaming of people who are only suspected of rape before they're proven guilty.

This isn't a mere suggestion for law reforms or a call to improve our attitudes towards rape. This is going against some principles, such as the presumption of innocence, which are an integral part of our liberal, democratic societies.

The sentence argues that these changes aren't what's needed to reduce the number of rapes. The sentence calls for more reports to the authorities and for better police work.

How is that sentence evidence that the person who wrote it supports a movement to give more rights to men? The word "men" does't even appear in the sentence, and neither does the word "rights".

By the way the author of sentence isn't a MRA (I should know, because it is little old me).

The author thinks that there is no need for more rights for men, because men aren't being oppressed by anyone.

The author argues in favor of equal rights, which include the right for anyone, of any gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age or social status, to be presumed innocent of any crime before they're proven guilty.

If this is enough to label the author a MRA then the US constitution, the UN and the EU charter of rights have been written by MRAs.

[Skep tickle]

I haven't done such a long post in quite a long time, but I think I remember how to. *clears throat* Ladies and gentlemen, get your scrolling finger ready.

Amateur! I once posted the whole internet at Abbie's ERV.

:D

[Dick Strawkins]

Attending atheist conferences? Pfft, what am I, some kind of rapist?

As we are all well aware, only rapists and FTBloggers attend atheist conventions! And never the twain shall meet, except in the elevator at 4 AM!

We all know that atheist conferences are pretty much the equivalent of historical reenactments of the Japanese imperial army's 'Rape of Nanking'.

As a historical aside, I checked the figures for this event - probably the most famous case of mass rape in history (at least recent history.)
There were about 200,000 people in Nanking at the time of the Japanese attack after which 20,000 women (and children) were brutally raped by the invading army.
If we use a 50:50 ratio for males to females in the city we have an estimate of approximately 1 in 5 women and girls were raped in the Nanking.
Which, is the same number as the percentage of women getting raped in American universities.
According to twitter feminists.

If one in five women were really getting raped in US universities (think Nanking in the US) then there is not so much a dismissal of accusations of rape by the authorities but instead a wholesale reason to send in the armed forces and close down the entire university system.

[Skep tickle]

Here's an exchange on Hemant Mehta's blog. I'm posying it here too in case Psycho Gecko decides to delete his post, or Disqus fails to preserve mine:

To quote the Slymepit: "there's no need to completely reshape society to protect people from rape."

To be fair, that was from a thread justifying George Zimmerman and telling people to STFU about him, NOT from the thread about wanting to see a FtB blogger in a Leia slave outfit from Return of the Jedi, so it's clear that there's a little variety of bigots there.

Quote mining is bad, Psycho Gecko. Please don't do do that.

Here's the sentence you quoted in context:

"If all victims of rape are encouraged to go to the police and more rapists are reported to the police and arrested sooner or later even most of their [the Social Justice Warriors] audience will realize that Western culture works pretty well as it is and while there is always room for improvement there's no need to completely reshape society to protect people from rape."

As you can see the sentence doesn't mean that there is nothing more that can be done to deal with rape, or that laws or social attitudes cannot be changed if it is proven that they're detrimental to the fight against rape.

What is argued against in this sentence is the need to completely reshape society to reduce the number of rapes.

Some "Social Justice Warriors" argue that we should reject the idea that people are innocent until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt and substitute it with the "preponderance of evidence", which basically means that since an accusation of rape is taken as evidence (this is the real meaning of the meme "believe the victims") it's the accused who has to prove their innocence. They also argue for public shaming of people who are only suspected of rape before they're proven guilty.

This isn't a mere suggestion for law reforms or a call to improve our attitudes towards rape. This is going against some principles, such as the presumption of innocence, which are an integral part of our liberal, democratic societies.

The sentence argues that these changes aren't what's needed to reduce the number of rapes. The sentence calls for more reports to the authorities and for better police work.

How is that sentence evidence that the person who wrote it supports a movement to give more rights to men? The word "men" does't even appear in the sentence, and neither does the word "rights".

By the way the author of sentence isn't a MRA (I should know, because it is little old me).

The author thinks that there is no need for more rights for men, because men aren't being oppressed by anyone.

The author argues in favor of equal rights, which include the right for anyone, of any gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age or social status, to be presumed innocent of any crime before they're proven guilty.

If this is enough to label the author a MRA then the US constitution, the UN and the EU charter of rights have been written by MRAs.

:clap:

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Kirbmarc: can we have a direct link to go with this?

[Tony Parsehole]

Well, Avi-gate is over and straight away we get Comhinc sharing out his wife's twat via PM, John Greg fantasising about cocks and everybody is wanking animals.
Can't wait to see what you're getting up to by the end of the week.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

everybody is wanking animals.

I'm not! They're all neutered. Plus, ever tried to wank a cat? Or a snake?

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Please don't answer that.

[KenD]

I missed the show, but it looks like the Porn Charity set up by Mercedes Carrera and TFYC has been pretty successful. Over $3000 raised by the live show, $5500 and counting for the IndieGoGo, and whatever the replica shirtgate shirt ultimately goes for. Not too shabby, especially if it actually ends up doing some good.

I think this is the first time three of my favourite things -- compulsive masturbation, annoying SJWs, and helping other people through charity -- have been successfully combined into one project.

Although the BoobFreq Sarkesian parody gets two out of the three. Anyone with a long memory for feminist drama might remember her from the Hugo Schwyzer meltdown - she was the girl he was caught sexting...

http://media.vocativ.com/photos/2015/01 ... 722306.jpg

[Tony Parsehole]

Attending atheist conferences? Pfft, what am I, some kind of rapist?

As we are all well aware, only rapists and FTBloggers attend atheist conventions! And never the twain shall meet, except in the elevator at 4 AM!

How I imagine an atheist conference.
This X 1000:
https://s.mlkshk.com/r/CEK
With a helping of:
[youtube]bnzv-Z0-C9I[/youtube]

Yeah. No thanks.

[Tony Parsehole]

Please don't answer that.

Good call.

[Tony Parsehole]

This tickled me.

[Kirbmarc]

Kirbmarc: can we have a direct link to go with this?

Sure, here it is.

[comhcinc]

Well, Avi-gate is over and straight away we get Comhinc sharing out his wife's twat via PM, John Greg fantasising about cocks and everybody is wanking animals.
Can't wait to see what you're getting up to by the end of the week.

Her tits. Get it right.

[comhcinc]

Two questions Based Zebra.

Does the location have an elevator?

Will there be a ball pit?

[franc]

Ronald MacDonald is rattling the beggars cup again -

https://archive.today/1XEcM

He got an invite to a conference and has to pay the expenses himself and doesn't get a speaking fee.
He complains (again) that this isn't fair:
[...]
Like I said, I kind of agree with McGabriel. There should be some way of treating speaking at atheist/skeptical events as work.

"Work" presupposes something of value being added/created. MacGabriel just parrots groupthink gibberish. This is him in a nutshell -

http://greylining.com/2013/09/28/what-u ... -bollocks/

"Work". Indeed.

[Kirbmarc]

Well, Avi-gate is over and straight away we get Comhinc sharing out his wife's twat via PM, John Greg fantasising about cocks and everybody is wanking animals.
Can't wait to see what you're getting up to by the end of the week.

I guess that this a good week to come out as asexual.

Actually I think I'm just a demisexual grey or whatever the new correct SJW name is. Only got laid a couple of times and didn't especially like it.

I also don't watch porn. :oops:

[subbie1957]

Two questions Based Zebra.

Does the location have an elevator?

Will there be a ball pit?

And will the ball pit be bigger than the elevator?

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

it.

I also don't watch porn. :oops:

You're dead to me.

[comhcinc]

Two questions Based Zebra.

Does the location have an elevator?

Will there be a ball pit?

And will the ball pit be bigger than the elevator?

Is the elevator the ball pit?

[Kirbmarc]

You're dead to me.

It's even worse than that. I don't even masturbate, and haven't done it in years.

I guess I'm more than dead now. Call me zombiekin. :lol:

[franc]

You're dead to me.

It's even worse than that. I don't even masturbate, and haven't done it in years.

I guess I'm more than dead now. Call me zombiekin. :lol:

This is what a male feminist looks like.

[Dick Strawkins]

Ronald MacDonald is rattling the beggars cup again -

https://archive.today/1XEcM

He got an invite to a conference and has to pay the expenses himself and doesn't get a speaking fee.
He complains (again) that this isn't fair:
[...]
Like I said, I kind of agree with McGabriel. There should be some way of treating speaking at atheist/skeptical events as work.

"Work" presupposes something of value being added/created. MacGabriel just parrots groupthink gibberish. This is him in a nutshell -

http://greylining.com/2013/09/28/what-u ... -bollocks/

"Work". Indeed.

How to think of atheist/skeptic events is an interesting question.
They aren't the same as a business or academic conference where the talks involve professionals giving new information to the attendees.
I see them as similar to religious or political events. While you can end up paying a lot of money at such events (tithes, donation bucket, donation to the campaign or party) this is usually voluntary, and a lot of people do not pay.
McGabriel already has a donation link on his page.
Whats wrong with simply asking his audience to donate to that if they think he was worth it?

Problem solved.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

PA: are you by any chance Godfrey Elfwick over at Hemant's?

[Hunt]

You're dead to me.

It's even worse than that. I don't even masturbate, and haven't done it in years.

I guess I'm more than dead now. Call me zombiekin. :lol:

Have you checked the fuse?

[comhcinc]

You're dead to me.

It's even worse than that. I don't even masturbate, and haven't done it in years.

I guess I'm more than dead now. Call me zombiekin. :lol:

You are not trying hard enough. Is being hard enough the issue?

[jimthepleb]

PA: are you by any chance Godfrey Elfwick over at Hemant's?

PA is not Godfrey Elfwick.
Nor am I.

[Cunt of Personality]

I'm not Godfrey Elfwick either.

[Oglebart]

This tickled me.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Oglebart]

I'm reading everything in Phil Daniels' voice now.

[ROBOKiTTY]

I guess that this a good week to come out as asexual.

Actually I think I'm just a demisexual grey or whatever the new correct SJW name is. Only got laid a couple of times and didn't especially like it.

I also don't watch porn. :oops:

^5

Or is there a high-five smiley?

[Pitchguest]

This tickled me.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

That's going to be me now everytime someone goes off on a postmodernist rant.