If thou gazest long into the Pit, the Pit will also gaze into thee

dogen wrote:So I was on the train today to go and give a seminar at a university. And some fucker stole my briefcase, containing my laptop, wallet and phone. 5 months research on stellar seismology mostly down the tubes. And so it goes.

dogen wrote:

Sunder wrote:

dogen wrote:So I just read this:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/n ... ing-report

Check out the name of the guy who did the report.

[emoji38] [emoji38] [emoji38]

I presume you're unfamiliar with his book "Inside the Olympics"?

If so, I high suggest a quick Google image search.

I *am* unfamiliar. Also, I realize that I'm pretty puerile. After the loss of my laptop et al, while riding back home on the train, I reflected on this fact and decided that I should be more mature in my postings to the pit. Looking back over what I've written in the past year-and-a-half, most of it is sophomoric drivel and wink-wink jokes. I aspired to be a more thoughtful poster, raising my game to the level of the many luminaries of the pit who have greatly broadened my horizons.

A couple of beers later, and I'm back to sniggering at 'Dick Pound'.

:cdc:

But seriously, if y'all ever want to know about stars, or anything else in the universe, let me know and I'll try to put together something with a little more meat in it.

Phil_Giordana_FCD wrote:Whether the poopstika (eh!) existed or not is irrelevant. The important thing is that it sparked a discussion on a very serious problem. And even if he was innocent, he still can learn from the experience.

Or whatever. Same shit, different day.

Skep tickle wrote:

Billie from Ockham wrote:If anyone cares, Melissa Click has produced a half-way decent apology and will probably keep her zero-time appointment in journalism at Mizzou.

This site says she has apologized and resigned

Unacceptable behaviors

The product team is committed to providing a welcoming and safe environment for people of all races, gender identities, gender expressions, sexual orientations, physical abilities, physical appearances, socioeconomic backgrounds, nationalities, ages, religions, and beliefs. Discrimination and harassment are expressly prohibited in our employee handbook. Harassment includes, but is not limited to, intimidation; stalking; unwanted photography; inappropriate physical contact; use of sexual or discriminatory imagery, comments, or jokes; sexist, racist, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory or derogatory language; and unwelcome sexual attention.

Furthermore, any behavior or language which is unwelcoming—whether or not it rises to the level of harassment—is also strongly discouraged. Much exclusionary behavior takes the form of microaggressions—subtle put-downs which may be unconsciously delivered. Regardless of intent, microaggressions can have a significant negative impact on victims and have no place on our team.

There are a host of behaviors and language common on tech teams which are worth noting as specifically unwelcome: Avoid “well, actuallys”—pedantic corrections that are often insulting and unproductive; make an effort not to interrupt your colleagues while they are speaking; never respond with surprise when someone asks for help; and take care neither to patronize your colleagues nor assume complete knowledge of a topic. This last point is especially important when talking about technical topics: Many women and people of color in the tech industry have many tales of being either mansplained about a field in which they are experts, or else excluded from learning opportunities because a colleague wouldn’t make an effort to answer questions—don’t be that person. Remember that your colleagues may have expertise you are unaware of, and listen at least as much as you speak.

Clarence wrote:I should mention there are two 'alternative' papers around here. One online is called the Baltimore Brew. The other one with a 40 year old history and some actual historical news chops (sadly, not anymore) is the Baltimore City Paper and it has gone from leftwing-progressive (with an occasional right wing columnist as variety) to full-bore SJW over the past few years to the extent that they had to be called out when one of their 'journalists' tried to claim that a picture of a hoodlum grabbing a ladies purse during the riots was a white woman attacking a black man.

dogen wrote:

Tribble wrote:

dogen wrote:No backups since July, which is when I started my 6-month sabbatical in the UK. I've been regularly committing my software to repos throughout, so that's OK; the loss is mainly things like notes, figures, log files, etc.

Drop box. Get it. Use it. You'll be happy you did.

I do use it, but only for sharing files with others. Does Dropbox do versioning? What if it goes down? What are the security implications of putting everything in Dropbox?

Gumby wrote:Phil Plait is such a coward. I replied to his Tim Hunt tweet with a very mild tweet saying that Hunt was the target of a witch hunt, and the emasculated little pussy immediately blocked me. It's the first time I have ever tweeted him, and to my complete unsurprise brave Phil Plait bravely ran away.

In one part of the episode, I’m talking about how Venus is really pretty when you look at it from Earth, but up close, it’s an awful place. As I spoke about Venus being pretty, we put up a cute animation of Botticelli’s famous The Birth of Venus. But then, when I say Venus up close is awful (and say, "Yikes!"), we zoom in on the drawing and it turns out Venus has my face on it.

I thought this was pretty funny, a bit of humor poking fun at me. So we OK'd it.

Well, it turns out that wasn’t so OK and funny with a lot of viewers. We got some comments that the joke was transphobic, making fun of transgender people.

That’s why my editor had texted me. I called her, and she told me what had happened. As soon as she told me, I had a forehead-slapping moment. Of course this could be seen as transphobic. In retrospect it was obvious. The good news is that the team felt the same way and had already re-edited the video to remove that part, and had re-uploaded it before I had even called.

Under intense pressure, Dr. Brigham has both cancelled the exam and resigned from the university, according to screenshots posted online of an email from Dr. Brigham to his students.

“The exam is cancelled. Our students will be able to take the exam at an alternate date with no loss of points,” Dr. Brigham told students. “No one will have to come to class today. And, I am resigning my position.”

tina wrote:I'm pretty sure this is correct: particularly in the younger SJW's. Most 'identify' with 'causes' because their mates do, because it's cool and edgy and rebellious. In terms of religion it's like "well of course god exists, don't be silly" Or of radicalisation " Well naturally the West is to blame for everything, that's obvious, duh." Feminism, the same, racism... ditto. Unless a young person has been exceptionally well trained in critical thinking skills, I suspect it's par for the course . How all these SJW techniques and strategies have developed is, as you said earlier, fodder for several Peehaitchdees. Like feathers I would like to see evidence of deliberate marxist radicals pulling the strings, if such exists.

[T]he tale of Tim Hunt’s lunch appearance at the World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ 2015) in Seoul on 8 June should have been short-lived: Yet another eminent Nobel laureate said something stupid that offended much of his audience; his words were reported accurately; he resigned from a few of his numerous honorary positions, and apologised for what he said. Surely, the world then moved on?

In the end, the parable of Tim Hunt is indeed a simple one. He said something casually sexist, stupid and inappropriate which offended many of his audience. He then confirmed he said what he was reported to have said and apologised twice. The matter should have stopped there. Instead a concerted effort to save his name — which was not disgraced, nor his reputation as a scientist jeopardized — has rewritten history. Science is about truth. As this article has shown, we have seen very little of it from Hunt’s apologists — merely evasions, half-truths, distortions, errors and outright falsehoods.

Gumby wrote:Phil Plait is such a coward. I replied to his Tim Hunt tweet with a very mild tweet saying that Hunt was the target of a witch hunt, and the emasculated little pussy immediately blocked me. It's the first time I have ever tweeted him, and to my complete unsurprise brave Phil Plait bravely ran away.

fuzzy wrote:A Missouri professor who refused to cancel an exam resigns after backlash..

Under intense pressure, Dr. Brigham has both cancelled the exam and resigned from the university, according to screenshots posted online of an email from Dr. Brigham to his students.

“The exam is cancelled. Our students will be able to take the exam at an alternate date with no loss of points,” Dr. Brigham told students. “No one will have to come to class today. And, I am resigning my position.”

http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6971

Ape+lust wrote:

Gumby wrote:Phil Plait is such a coward. I replied to his Tim Hunt tweet with a very mild tweet saying that Hunt was the target of a witch hunt, and the emasculated little pussy immediately blocked me. It's the first time I have ever tweeted him, and to my complete unsurprise brave Phil Plait bravely ran away.

Buh-bye, Phil :lol: :lol:

http://imgur.com/ZiRV05J.png

I don't think that I've seen anyone notice that the "author" of the "essay" is Daniel Waddell, frequent Freethought Blogs commenter and sphincter licker of those bloggers.

fuzzy wrote:A Missouri professor who refused to cancel an exam resigns after backlash..

Under intense pressure, Dr. Brigham has both cancelled the exam and resigned from the university, according to screenshots posted online of an email from Dr. Brigham to his students.

“The exam is cancelled. Our students will be able to take the exam at an alternate date with no loss of points,” Dr. Brigham told students. “No one will have to come to class today. And, I am resigning my position.”

http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6971

About 1,000 students at Ithaca College (IC) staged a walkout from their classes Wednesday afternoon to protest college president Tom Rochon and numerous allegations of racist incidents on campus this semester.

The walkout was organized in response to growing discontent with the perceived inadequacy of the Rochon administration’s response to students’ numerous allegations of racist incidents on campus, concerns over student and faculty diversity, and high tuition.

Campus Reform earlier reported on these disputed incidents, one of which was a “Preps and Crooks”-themed off-campus fraternity party that upset many students due to the description of the “Crooks” theme using words like “thuggish” and “bling.” Another incident occurred during an alumni panel earlier in the semester, where several panelists used the word “savage” to describe a black female panelist after she herself used the word to describe her “savage hunger” for success.

After the protesters began to dissipate and return to classes, a group of more than 50 congregated around a bench where one student was holding a sign reading “I support Tom Rochon.”

The encircling students also said students of color feel unsafe on campus. Though when pushed on what exactly makes them feel unsafe or to point to specific incidents of crimes or physical harm on campus, they yielded no answers.

Lsuoma wrote:

fuzzy wrote:A Missouri professor who refused to cancel an exam resigns after backlash..

Under intense pressure, Dr. Brigham has both cancelled the exam and resigned from the university, according to screenshots posted online of an email from Dr. Brigham to his students.

“The exam is cancelled. Our students will be able to take the exam at an alternate date with no loss of points,” Dr. Brigham told students. “No one will have to come to class today. And, I am resigning my position.”

http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6971

American tertiary education has fucked itself to the ground. I have no sympathy.

ConcentratedH2O, OM wrote:

another lurker wrote:

ConcentratedH2O, OM wrote:
I don't care, I'm gonna do it. I am doxxing Mykeru. This man/bear love should not be kept apart:

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

Just look at his ballsack, quivering with rage hot jizz.

Shatterface wrote:

Soapy Stevens wrote:

tina wrote:One learns sooo much from Caitlyn about being a woman.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinharris/c ... yu3G7MVEry

"I am SO glad to be on this team and help it along!"

There's nothing like a bit of transplaining.

I can see the point that radical feminists make that the whole trans-activism thing is about men taking over the space they thought was theirs.

There's no 'right side' on this. The radfems come across as genuinely hateful while the transwomen play to the worst brainless bimbo or shrieking harpy stereotype.

Skep tickle wrote:Several conservative sites are reporting that there doesn't appear to be evidence that the "poop swastika" existed. (It appears that they're the only ones asking the question.)

thefederalist.com/2015/11/10/was-the-poop-swastika-incident-at-mizzou-a-giant-hoax/

thefederalist.com/2015/11/11/meet-the-mizzou-student-responsible-for-hyping-the-poop-swastika/

90% of the article at the 1st of those 2 links is quoted below; go to the site to see/follow the many links within the article there:

There’s only one problem: no evidence of the alleged incident, in which a poop swastika on the wall of a dormitory restroom was reported, has ever been made publicly available. Did this incident occur as reported, or was it an immaculate defecation that formed the foundation of an unimaginable deception?

According to Billy Donley, the president of Mizzou’s Residence Halls Association (RHA), the poop swastika was reported at approximately 2:00 a.m. on October 24, 2015.

“On Saturday, October 24th, at 2:00am an individual came into one of the restrooms in Gateway Hall and drew a swastika on the wall with their own feces,” Donley wrote in a letter several days after the alleged incident. “This event happened while many students, including myself, were already asleep.”

Later in his letter, Donley noted that he only found out about the alleged vandalism incident “via a flyer posted on the walls” of the dorm.

Although Donley did not respond to repeated requests for comment prior to publication, The Federalist spoke with two RHA staffers while trying to get in touch with Donley. Neither had personally witnessed the poop swastika. When asked if there was any photographic evidence of the alleged incident, one staffer replied, “Not to my knowledge.”

Frankie Minor, the director of residential life at Mizzou, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on whether he personally saw the poop swastika or any photographic evidence of it.

The Federalist also attempted to contact Christian Basi, the associate director of the University of Missouri News Bureau, who previously told the Columbia Missourian on Oct. 30 that the incident had been immediately reported to Mizzou police. Basi did not respond to requests for comment prior to the publication of this article.

Calls to the University of Missouri Police Department, which responded to and investigated the alleged poop swastika incident, also failed to yield any evidence of the poopstika.

Multiple activists on Twitter pointed to this photo as proof that the incident occurred as reported, but a Google search for the same image shows that it has been floating around the Internet for nearly a year. A reddit thread from November of 2014 appears to contain the earliest publication of the photo in question, meaning that it most certainly does not constitute proof of the incident alleged to have occurred at Mizzou on October 24, 2015.

Maj. Brian Weimer, the public information officer for the Mizzou police department, told The Federalist that he also did not personally see the poop swastika that was reported to police. When asked if anyone in the police department personally witnessed the swastika, Maj. Weimer clammed up and referred all questions about the incident to the university’s custodian of public records.

The Federalist also repeatedly contacted @ConcernedStudent1950, the Twitter account representing Mizzou protesters who issued a series of demands of university administrators after the alleged poop swastika incident made headlines. The individuals running the @CS1950 account failed to produce any photographic or documentary evidence of the incident prior to publication of this article.

While a mere absence of evidence is not synonymous with evidence of absence, the complete lack of any verifiable photographic evidence of the alleged poop swastika and the lack of any named eye witnesses raises serious questions about the veracity of a racially charged incident of vandalism that eventually led to the resignation of the University of Missouri’s two top administrators.

Did the incident happen as reported, or did two university administrators resign over protests that were sparked by a hoax? And if the incident did happen as reported, a proposition for which no publicly available evidence currently exists, how did university administrators and law enforcement authorities confirm that the vandalism was driven by racial animosity, as opposed to being promulgated as a public relations stunt meant to tar the university for failing to provide an environment free of racist invective? It would not be the first time a public university fell victim to a high profile PR stunt that was later revealed to be a fabrication. Either way, students, their parents, university employees, and Missouri taxpayers deserve solid, verifiable answers based on clear evidence about what exactly transpired in that Gateway Wall bathroom in the early morning of October 24.

Under the provisions of Missouri’s broad public records laws, The Federalist has requested from the University of Missouri copies of any and all records relating to the alleged vandalism, including any police or incident reports describing the investigation of the poop swastika by law enforcement authorities, as well as any photographic records of the alleged swastika, and will make that information available if and when it is received from university officials.

CommanderTuvok wrote:The SJW entitlement crybaby nonsense virus continues abound. Remember Sandi Thom? Nope, neither do I. I just about recall her only single ("I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker") and that was SHITE. Anyway, RADIO 2 has not play-listed her latest single (she's still releasing stuff, aparently)....and she goes on a highly amusing salty sob-fest.
[youtube]xsddvv9ca0A[/youtube]

free thoughtpolice wrote:

I don't think that I've seen anyone notice that the "author" of the "essay" is Daniel Waddell, frequent Freethought Blogs commenter and sphincter licker of those bloggers.

Does he post as Daniel Waddell?

Service Dog wrote:A few years ago, I was on the campus of Columbia U. A student made a threatening remark to my face, then fled.
A university administrator witnessed it & called campus police. I said I didn't think the the student would
really commit violence & I didn't want to press charges. The admin said it wasn't up to me-- university rules
prohibited making violent threats on university property. Fair enough. I said I just wanted to collect my bicycle & leave.
The admin said they'd have to assure my safety by having a campus cop accompany me until I left campus. Fair enough.

When the campus cop arrived, the admin pointed to me and said, "Please escort this man off campus."

The cop was quite brusque with me. I can't recall if he held my arm, kept his hand on my shoulder, or his palm flat on my back...
but there was some physical contact. As soon as we were outside the building, he demanded to see my ID & said I'd be arrested if I returned to the campus.

Only then did I realize that he had interpreted "Please escort this man off campus" as a euphemism for "throw this guy outta here!",
not literally "escort" me for my protection. Then & now-- I view it as orwellian-- that police power habitually disguises itself in euphemisms. Melissa Click and PZ Meyers would gladly use police power against a political opponent, disguising it in SJW platitudes.

The other guy was arrested in class, removed in handcuffs, and quite angry at me--
unaware that the university had sought his arrest, not me.

tina wrote:On weaponising safe spaces....
https://popehat.com/2015/11/09/safe-spa ... -as-sword/
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc ... ce/415080/

Really? wrote:

free thoughtpolice wrote:

I don't think that I've seen anyone notice that the "author" of the "essay" is Daniel Waddell, frequent Freethought Blogs commenter and sphincter licker of those bloggers.

Does he post as Daniel Waddell?

Of course. Don't worry, I wouldn't dox. I don't know how to link a google search without a shitload of additional data; feel free to google "Daniel Waddell freethought blogs".

Of course, there may be two completely different Waddells. A Dan and a Daniel. One never knows. Perhaps they are identical twins who had sadists for parents.

tina wrote:One learns sooo much from Caitlyn about being a woman.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinharris/c ... yu3G7MVEry

Q "What’s the hardest part for you about being a woman?"

A "The hardest part about being a woman is figuring out what to wear."

HoneyWagon wrote:

tina wrote:One learns sooo much from Caitlyn about being a woman.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinharris/c ... yu3G7MVEry

Q "What’s the hardest part for you about being a woman?"

A "The hardest part about being a woman is figuring out what to wear."

Seriously????

another lurker wrote:

""It’s time that white science discovered a way for trans women to bear children and lactate breast milk instead of wasting time colliding Hadrons in a big tube in Switzerland."" G.E.

Which is trans-misogynist. The implication being that biological sex actually has something to do with reproduction. It essentially states that femaleness = the ability to get pregnant. It erases trans women, who are biological females simply because they believe they are, as that is all that counts. Biological sex is a social construct.

another lurker wrote:And some nice pwnage by Steers here:

Steersman danah gaz • 5 days ago

'' … subjective “identity” must always trump objective reality.'

Which for all practical purposes, it does.''
-------------

Which looks rather like the classic definition for “delusional”:

https://disqus.com/home/discussion/frie ... 2345331230

Phil_Giordana_FCD wrote:I seem to have been blocked on FB by Mallorie Nasrallha because I disagreed with her stance on veterans. I didn't expect that from her. Not dramatic, just a bit disappointing.

Really? wrote:

free thoughtpolice wrote:

I don't think that I've seen anyone notice that the "author" of the "essay" is Daniel Waddell, frequent Freethought Blogs commenter and sphincter licker of those bloggers.

Does he post as Daniel Waddell?

Of course. Don't worry, I wouldn't dox. I don't know how to link a google search without a shitload of additional data; feel free to google "Daniel Waddell freethought blogs".

Of course, there may be two completely different Waddells. A Dan and a Daniel. One never knows. Perhaps they are identical twins who had sadists for parents.

Really? wrote:
Some women wonder how to get to school without some Muslim putting a hole in their head. [...]

Really? wrote:

HoneyWagon wrote:

tina wrote:One learns sooo much from Caitlyn about being a woman.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinharris/c ... yu3G7MVEry

Q "What’s the hardest part for you about being a woman?"

A "The hardest part about being a woman is figuring out what to wear."

Seriously????

I saw that and I think Caitlyn really puts everything into perspective. Sure, some women die in honor killings. Their fathers bash in their brains as they use their last energy to reach out to him, begging for love and mercy.

But goddammit, society forced Caitlyn from learning about fashion at gunpoint until she was in her sixties.

Some women wonder how to get to school without some Muslim putting a hole in their head. Some women wonder if those Jimmy Choos go with that Stella McCartney.

Ape+lust wrote:

Lsuoma wrote: American tertiary education has fucked itself to the ground. I have no sympathy.

Yup. College fees have swollen to epic proportions, yet somehow these clowns have gotten little pushback for derailing curriculums. And come January, everyone will have to find time to attend obligatory "diversity" training.

The same shit is going on at Ithaca College, students are trying to run the president off.

http://ithacavoice.com/2015/10/turmoil- ... hon-mount/

http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news ... /75570208/

These are the 2 supposed catalysts for the unrest.

http://imgur.com/CsPM3nj.png

Phil_Giordana_FCD wrote:Humour is anathema to SJWs. I thought that fact was understood from the get-go.

Steersman wrote:

tina wrote:On weaponising safe spaces....
https://popehat.com/2015/11/09/safe-spa ... -as-sword/
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc ... ce/415080/

"Weaponizing safe spaces" - now I've heard everything. Although it is kind of amusing to see the lingo turned back on the originators.

But looks to be a couple of articles worth reading.

tina wrote:One learns sooo much from Caitlyn about being a woman.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinharris/c ... yu3G7MVEry

Brive1987 wrote:The best and brightest inter-sectional feminists happily accept trans-gendered women as 'women'. I don't believe sex reassignment is a necessary component.

If you had to determine the gender of a non reassigned trans-woman (Turing style - via a terminal) - what 5 SJ approved personal questions could you ask?

Obviously "do you identify as a man/woman, are you oppressed by men? Are you a lesbian" begging the question probes are out.

Would they really resort to socially constructed badges of oppression (pink/perfume/dress) as positive indicators? Or is there a secret I'm not in on?

This is seriously doing my head in. :doh: :doh: :think: :think:

Do your pronouns match the drapes?

tina wrote:

ThreeFlangedJavis wrote: Not Marxist infiltration as in East German agitators. Marxist infiltration as in infiltration by people with an ideology inspired by Marxism. No direct evidence, but the experiences related by Pizzey certainly point to a deliberate and directed strategy carried out by people with a Marxist bent. The first feminist meeting Pizzey went to way back when even featured posters of chairman Mao. Besides, the Marxist flavour of collectivist radfem flapdoodle is fairly obvious.

Are you referring to any particular interview or writing from Erin Pizzey where she talks about this aspect?

Malky wrote:Scott Alexander on his latest view on SJWs and the media responses,


http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/11/09/lo ... the-mouth/