The Refuge of the Toads

#27241

Service Dog wrote: http://ecodaily.org/wp-content/uploads/ ... /greg_.jpg

Ladies, that's the smile of a man who turned off his rape switch just for you.

#27242

#GorillaLivesMatter

[youtube]oAcQXPdzG0Q[/youtube]

#27243

The Livestream has been boring, and would be somewhat more effective with audio (which was gone for a while). At least they prevented Dave Rubin's hatespeech that way. It now has buffering issues.

#27244

I didn't think reason rally rules permitted rappists to attend.

#27245

"With the Reason Rally bringing together people from across the spectrums of age, color, sexual orientation and ethnicities, I hope it sinks in that we're not just Richard Dawkins clones and we don't fit the tiny box many people want to put us in," said Hemant Mehta, a popular atheist blogger and author of several books on atheism. "That's not just for politicians and the public, by the way. I think we need to convince other atheists, too, that we're a larger group than they imagine."

http://ncronline.org/news/spirituality/ ... heist-vote

Fuck off, Hemant.

#27246

Surprisingly enough - no one has ever had to convince me that they are not a Richard Dawkins clone.

#27247

Double Negative!

#27248

Was this a national rally? Looks more like a company picnic.

RRally.jpg: (47.29 KiB) Downloaded 242 times

#27249

Matt Cavanaugh wrote:
"With the Reason Rally bringing together people from across the spectrums of age, color, sexual orientation and ethnicities, I hope it sinks in that we're not just Richard Dawkins clones and we don't fit the tiny box many people want to put us in," said Hemant Mehta, a popular atheist blogger and author of several books on atheism. "That's not just for politicians and the public, by the way. I think we need to convince other atheists, too, that we're a larger group than they imagine."
http://ncronline.org/news/spirituality/ ... heist-vote

Fuck off, Hemant.

I don't see any posts up about the rally.

#27250

Silverman likes this comment

Silverman Likes.PNG: (16.52 KiB) Downloaded 313 times

#27251

Didn't attendance at the conferences run by DJ Grothe go up every year? Didn't he leave the foundation with more money than he found it? What does "run into the ground" mean?

#27252

MarcusAu wrote:Surprisingly enough - no one has ever had to convince me that they are not a Richard Dawkins clone.

Can you prove you are not a Richard Dawkins clone?

Can you? CAN YOU?!?

ANSWER ME!!!

#27253

MarcusAu wrote:Surprisingly enough - no one has ever had to convince me that they are not a Richard Dawkins clone.

Pure sour grapes. They couldn't reach that level of influence and concluded they never wanted to be "that sort" of atheist anyway.

#27254

Tigzy wrote:
Service Dog wrote: http://ecodaily.org/wp-content/uploads/ ... /greg_.jpg
Ladies, that's the smile of a man who turned off his rape switch just for you.

Still a masterpiece...

http://i.imgur.com/sdhYQ95.jpg

#27255

The sooner the SJWs turn on Silverman the better. The guy deserves some insult to go along with his financial injury.

#27256

#27257

Phil_Giordana_FCD wrote:

Between 5 and 10 thousand people? No I don't thank so. He must have been seeing double or triple from having to walk.

#27258

Sunder wrote:Has Grothe given Silverman a "told you so" yet?

Looking at the line up of the Reason Rally, plus the Sunday event, it clearly does not look like it was slated to appease SJWs.

But when you look at the website, and items in the Code of Conduct where you are not supposed to assume anyone's gender, and are supposed to ask their pronouns and use them...

Look. Being courteous to trans people isn't that hard. Until you get a special snowflake who has their own specially made up set of pronounalphabetsoup and throws a conniption fit if you don't get them right all of the time. I can imagine some people just don't want to deal with that.

And it doesn't look like Silverman took anyone's concerns seriously. He just misrepresented their concerns told them to essentially fuck off.

http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/ ... t-post.png

And what do you know. Very few people bothered to block Silverman or tell him Goodbye. They just didn't bother to show up.

I don't think that Codes of Conduct are necessarily bad. But there are many people who are concerned that they will be abused. So much so that you can't even give your rally away.

Some parts of his code could have stayed in with a little better explanation. The fact is that people are looking at these things and imagining the worst of people who might try to abuse it and those enforcing it.

#27259

I've given Peez shit for being out of shape before (and he is) but at least he's not puttering around the capital on a Rascal scooter.

#27260

Billie from Ockham wrote:Didn't attendance at the conferences run by DJ Grothe go up every year? Didn't he leave the foundation with more money than he found it? What does "run into the ground" mean?

http://i.imgur.com/EEesO2Q.jpg

Ng revenue in 2013 was $887K. DJ took over in 2010. So he had 2 years of declining revenue despite overall revenue being higher. Rando took a pay cut and DJ didn't.

That plus Randi's health was probably enough to initiate "plan gut JREF" and salvage the silver.

http://cherryteresa.com/wp/2014/09/06/j ... ue-claims/

#27261

I take back not what I said about fatty's numbers. I asked and it seems that somewhere under ten thousand is a good number for the event. It seems a lot of people are not interested in hearing the speakers but are hanging out chatting around the food and art vendors.

#27262

Fat Ed Brayton wrote:Bad News #3: The turnout was way lower than I expected. I don't know what the official estimates will be, but I would put the attendance somewhere between 5000 and 10,000 people at its peak. About half the size of the first one, if that.

Organizers were expecting about 30,000 people to attend the all-day event which included "science guy" Bill Nye, comedian Julia Sweeney, magician Penn Jillette, Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin and NASA scientist Carolyn Porco, among others.

Whenever SJWs try to make something more 'inclusive', they always end up driving people away.

#27263

#27264

I'd like to think the Slymepit Rapid Response Group stole Ed's scooter.

#27265

comhcinc wrote:
Phil_Giordana_FCD wrote:

Between 5 and 10 thousand people? No I don't thank so. He must have been seeing double or triple from having to walk.

It doesn't say much for his math skills if he thinks " between 5 and 10 thousand" is a sensible way to state an estimate.

At least he admits that the Reason Rally drew fewer people than a tenth of a Beyonce concert.

#27266

Low attendance because of Lawrence Krauss, according to Rebecca Hensler and Greta Christina.

Rebecca Hensler: 1. A couple things I read said that the organizers were aiming to attract a secular but not anti-religion crowd, in other words, a broader, more mainstream segment of the "nones." But the thing is that the people who are willing to invest money and time in travel to an atheist event are not the people who are "ho hum, religion is fine but not for me."

2. Lawrence Krauss is what kept feminists and SJ activists away, not people who said, " Lawrence Krauss has been asked to speak; WTF!?"

3. It was way too late in the game by the time enough people I DID want to hear had been added for me to schedule a trip. I wonder if others had the same experience.

...

Greta Christina: Echoing exactly what Rebecca Hensler said. I'll also add: The event was badly mismanaged before it changed hands. Lyz Liddell did an extraordinary job taking over the reins and turning a hot mess into an event people were excited about, but she had very little time to do it in. I'm surprised and impressed that it went as well as it did.

http://i.imgur.com/NzA5ot3.png

#27267

Brive1987 wrote:
Billie from Ockham wrote:Didn't attendance at the conferences run by DJ Grothe go up every year? Didn't he leave the foundation with more money than he found it? What does "run into the ground" mean?
http://i.imgur.com/EEesO2Q.jpg

Ng revenue in 2013 was $887K. DJ took over in 2010. So he had 2 years of declining revenue despite overall revenue being higher. Rando took a pay cut and DJ didn't.

That plus Randi's health was probably enough to initiate "plan gut JREF" and salvage the silver.

http://cherryteresa.com/wp/2014/09/06/j ... ue-claims/

Wait. What happened in 2011 that may have turned people against JREF and anyone else who was dedicated to critical thinking?

#27268

Billie from Ockham wrote:
JackSkeptic wrote:Um, that's not the way it works really. A lawyer's job is not to be fair but to get the best result for their client.
No. A lawyer's job is to achieve the best outcome for the client WITHIN THE LAW. (The last three words are incredibly important.) Citing cases incorrectly is either incompetent (if you don't know) or unethical (if you do). She was obligated, by both her oath and her contract with the client, to do the work necessary to cite cases correctly. Hurting your client by citing cases incorrectly can be malpractice.

If there were ambiguity, then she could spin her interpretation and this wouldn't be so bad. But that does not appear to the case here. She appears to have been either lying or lazy, and neither of those are acceptable.

I've seen a few few letters like this. It bluff based on most people will be intimidated by the letter. Most of the cases I've seen the recipient has had their lawyer draw up a letter to tell them to fuck off and then no more is heard. What's strange here is that the lawyer has kept engaging Mykeru. Isn't rule number 1 in Lawyering is the less you say the less likely you will give the opposition ammunition.

#27269

FYI: The Conservapedia page for PZ Myers lists some of the amusing bits about our Peez, but fails to mention that he was accused of raping a student. And since accusations are evidence, he likely raped that poor young woman.

http://www.conservapedia.com/PZ_Myers

#27270

Michael J wrote:
Billie from Ockham wrote:
JackSkeptic wrote:Um, that's not the way it works really. A lawyer's job is not to be fair but to get the best result for their client.
No. A lawyer's job is to achieve the best outcome for the client WITHIN THE LAW. (The last three words are incredibly important.) Citing cases incorrectly is either incompetent (if you don't know) or unethical (if you do). She was obligated, by both her oath and her contract with the client, to do the work necessary to cite cases correctly. Hurting your client by citing cases incorrectly can be malpractice.

If there were ambiguity, then she could spin her interpretation and this wouldn't be so bad. But that does not appear to the case here. She appears to have been either lying or lazy, and neither of those are acceptable.
I've seen a few few letters like this. It bluff based on most people will be intimidated by the letter. Most of the cases I've seen the recipient has had their lawyer draw up a letter to tell them to fuck off and then no more is heard. What's strange here is that the lawyer has kept engaging Mykeru. Isn't rule number 1 in Lawyering is the less you say the less likely you will give the opposition ammunition.

It's all Baxter's fault because he insisted they hire an inexperienced woman lawyer to help break up the old boy's club. He's probably still cleaning protein powder out of his ears from when Karen saw Mykeru's replies.

#27271

#27272

Aneris wrote:Low attendance because of Lawrence Krauss, according to Rebecca Hensler and Greta Christina.

Awaiting his response.

#27273

What of the whole "40 day moratorium so we can think this through" pitch?

That's the weirdest (and weakest) cease and desist I can imagine.

#27274

comhcinc wrote:I take back not what I said about fatty's numbers. I asked and it seems that somewhere under ten thousand is a good number for the event. It seems a lot of people are not interested in hearing the speakers but are hanging out chatting around the food and art vendors.

When I looked at the Mall cam, a few times during what should have been peak hours, I saw two tents off to the side with no one around them. As far as the food trucks go, those are not all that close to the Mall. At a certain point, when you are far enough away, you aren't really at the event anymore.

That said, I found this better picture of part of the crowd.
http://i.imgur.com/VAW4QCW.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Zj8nhbu.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/yZ4K822.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/8UZFJHw.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/OJyf9oK.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/zSG29Fo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/z4OfCOl.jpg

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

http://i.imgur.com/T3ySPtR.jpg

#27275

At some point you need to book a (very) small sports arena to contain all that vibe.

#27276

Michael J wrote:I've seen a few few letters like this. It bluff based on most people will be intimidated by the letter. Most of the cases I've seen the recipient has had their lawyer draw up a letter to tell them to fuck off and then no more is heard. What's strange here is that the lawyer has kept engaging Mykeru. Isn't rule number 1 in Lawyering is the less you say the less likely you will give the opposition ammunition.

True. But that isn't Mykeru's tactic. Mykeru is betting that this will never make it to court.

At best she can try to sue for the video having been posted. But since she didn't register it with the copyright office, she won't be due any money, plus it has already been taken down. So she doesn't have much of a case beyond keeping the video down.

#27277

Brive1987 wrote:What of the whole "40 day moratorium so we can think this through" pitch?
That's the weirdest (and weakest) cease and desist I can imagine.

They needed more time to get money to pay the lawyer.

#27278

ERV wrote:

I've just remembered what Jen's outfit reminded me of:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_RqfbnY7nCc/T ... V-2000.png

#27279

Brive1987 wrote:At some point you need to book a (very) small sports arena to contain all that vibe.

Not bad, not bad. Looks like the Reason Rally drew almost as many people as a WNBA game.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... etball.jpg

#27280

Brive1987 wrote:At some point you need to book a (very) small sports arena to contain all that vibe.

It appears that the two biggest draws were Bill Nye and then the Wu Tang Clan who probably drew anyone strolling along the Mall irrespective of religious affiliation.

#27281

I think Mykeru is having trouble understanding what it is exactly that he helped Ben to win.

If Ben interferes, he will no longer have that item that Mykeru helped him to win. It very well might all go down the drain. And I doubt Ben has another $200g to deal with the fall out.

#27282

I'm guessing that Radford backed away slowly from Mykeru's offer of an entente. And now he has to deal with the German's sans second front.

#27283

Michael J wrote:What's strange here is that the lawyer has kept engaging Mykeru.

That struck me as very strange, too. My guess is that she is either a proud idiot (and thought that a second, harder push would work on Mykeru) or she was asked to try again by her idiot clients. Either way, idiocy was involved.

#27284

Radford's war is over. Mykeru is still spinning up.

I can see Mykeru's point. When crazy struck Radford and A/S he stepped in, possessing a values based hatred of this type of incursion.

Now Stollznow is threatening Mykeru and Radford is invisible.

I am sure Radford would like nothing better than to have Stollznow slip under the metaphorical bus. But legal pragmatics and the fact he's already spilt blood weigh against Mykeru's collaborative crusade model.

#27285

Dan wrote:

#27286

deLurch wrote:I think Mykeru is having trouble understanding what it is exactly that he helped Ben to win.

[tweet.][/tweet]

[tweet.][/tweet]

[tweet.][/tweet]

If Ben interferes, he will no longer have that item that Mykeru helped him to win. It very well might all go down the drain. And I doubt Ben has another $200g to deal with the fall out.

I'm not surprised. Radford could have forced the issue into court but didn't. He let Stollznow off with a relatively weak retraction statement. I have no doubt that he just wants the whole thing to go away and be forgotten.

#27287

deLurch wrote:I think Mykeru is having trouble understanding what it is exactly that he helped Ben to win.

If Ben interferes, he will no longer have that item that Mykeru helped him to win. It very well might all go down the drain. And I doubt Ben has another $200g to deal with the fall out.

Just when you want to give the guy some credit, he goes and pulls some stupid like this. Radford seems like a nice guy whose whole world went to fuck. Pulled himself out of it and now rando anonymous internet dude demands he get back involved with it all?

Fuck that noise. This goes right back to what I said about Mykeru earlier. He acts like you are either with him or against him.

#27288

Wasn't Radford's goal to get a retraction from Stollznow, people to take down libelous stories about him, and then have everyone leave him the fuck alone? If so, Mykeru is not "defending" Radford; he's being a pain in the ass.

ps. please note, dear Jack Skeptic, that I've clearly lost my grip on Mykeru's balls; this all must be a typo

#27289

Billie from Ockham wrote:
Michael J wrote:What's strange here is that the lawyer has kept engaging Mykeru.
That struck me as very strange, too. My guess is that she is either a proud idiot (and thought that a second, harder push would work on Mykeru) or she was asked to try again by her idiot clients. Either way, idiocy was involved.

Or she asked for a retainer upfront, and is slowly consuming those billable hours. It was probably a small retainer for what might have been just a legal letter and then done, but she will be asking for more cash soon.

#27290

Brive1987 wrote:Radford's war is over. Mykeru is still spinning up.

I can see Mykeru's point. When crazy struck Radford and A/S he stepped in, possessing a values based hatred of this type of incursion.

Now Stollznow is threatening Mykeru and Radford is invisible.

I am sure Radford would like nothing better than to have Stollznow slip under the metaphorical bus. But legal pragmatics and the fact he's already spilt blood weigh against Mykeru's collaborative crusade model.

4-5 months left on Mykeru's copyright strike vs. spoiling a signed agreement that took a few years and $200k to put into place. The trade off just even close.

#27291

deLurch wrote:
comhcinc wrote:I take back not what I said about fatty's numbers. I asked and it seems that somewhere under ten thousand is a good number for the event. It seems a lot of people are not interested in hearing the speakers but are hanging out chatting around the food and art vendors.
When I looked at the Mall cam, a few times during what should have been peak hours, I saw two tents off to the side with no one around them. As far as the food trucks go, those are not all that close to the Mall. At a certain point, when you are far enough away, you aren't really at the event anymore.

I would say if the art & food vendors are there for the event then you are still at the event. I would also point out that the point of a rally is to show strong support for something (an agenda, person, etc) and if you never actually go where everyone is gather to hear the speakers you are not doing a lot of good. I mean it's not like a convention where you have paid your money and fuck all if you actually go to it.

#27292

deLurch wrote:
Brive1987 wrote:Radford's war is over. Mykeru is still spinning up.

I can see Mykeru's point. When crazy struck Radford and A/S he stepped in, possessing a values based hatred of this type of incursion.

Now Stollznow is threatening Mykeru and Radford is invisible.

I am sure Radford would like nothing better than to have Stollznow slip under the metaphorical bus. But legal pragmatics and the fact he's already spilt blood weigh against Mykeru's collaborative crusade model.
4-5 months left on Mykeru's copyright strike vs. spoiling a signed agreement that took a few years and $200k to put into place. The trade off just even close.

And it's not like he was in the right with the copyright and it's not like he doesn't have another youtube channel.

#27293

Billie from Ockham wrote:
Dan wrote:

Why would Steve "I Blocked U" Shives want to be pictured with a man wearing a Hitchens T-shirt? Hitchens was a dirty misogynist.

I re-read the growing correspondence between Mykeru and Stollznow's attorney. She thought that she was contacting this:

http://previews.123rf.com/images/iofoto ... -Photo.jpg

Turns out she was contacting this:

http://behindthepanels.net/wp-content/u ... ey-gif.gif

#27294

Oh, I figured out why the Reason Rally has all of that bullshit about never assuming someone's gender and to ask for their pronouns. Silverman's daughter* is "agender" and uses the pronouns they/them.

I wouldn't have brought it up, but I saw it because she was being mouthy about the reason rally code of conduct on twitter, plus she appears to be well over 18.

#27295

Billie from Ockham wrote:Wasn't Radford's goal to get a retraction from Stollznow, people to take down libelous stories about him, and then have everyone leave him the fuck alone? If so, Mykeru is not "defending" Radford; he's being a pain in the ass.

ps. please note, dear Jack Skeptic, that I've clearly lost my grip on Mykeru's balls; this all must be a typo

Agreed, but Stollznow's admission is some weak shit. "No one should believe that what I said was true." Fuck that. Radford is probably right to try and let things lie on his end, but he was not able to extract a full confession from Stollznow: "I fabricated evidence to fuck with Radford, quite successfully, in fact, and I brought the poor guy to court under false pretenses after taking $60,000 from rubes under false pretenses. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Love, Karen Stollznow, arrested domestic abuser."

#27296

deLurch wrote:Oh, I figured out why the Reason Rally has all of that bullshit about never assuming someone's gender and to ask for their pronouns. Silverman's daughter* is "agender" and uses the pronouns they/them.

I wouldn't have brought it up, but I saw it because she was being mouthy about the reason rally code of conduct on twitter, plus she appears to be well over 18.

Are they hot? Would I enjoy sticking my dick in their butt?

#27297

deLurch wrote:
Billie from Ockham wrote:
Michael J wrote:What's strange here is that the lawyer has kept engaging Mykeru.
That struck me as very strange, too. My guess is that she is either a proud idiot (and thought that a second, harder push would work on Mykeru) or she was asked to try again by her idiot clients. Either way, idiocy was involved.
Or she asked for a retainer upfront, and is slowly consuming those billable hours. It was probably a small retainer for what might have been just a legal letter and then done, but she will be asking for more cash soon.

Well, it only makes sense that Cassy helps them go after the $30 podcast windfall.
After all, Karen and Baxter have made it clear that they need the money. Say a dollar a day.
It's not a lot if you think of it. Skip the whipped cream and cashew ornament on the top of your morning coffee and you can help Karen and Baxter defend themselves from this MRA bully.
I'm giving... :snooty: will you?

#27298

deLurch wrote:Oh, I figured out why the Reason Rally has all of that bullshit about never assuming someone's gender and to ask for their pronouns. Silverman's daughter* is "agender" and uses the pronouns they/them.

I wouldn't have brought it up, but I saw it because she was being mouthy about the reason rally code of conduct on twitter, plus she appears to be well over 18.

http://media.salon.com/2013/11/dick_cheney.jpg

Fuck that shit. Why would I care about LGBT rights? We need to fuck the middle class and get some wars started in some shitty countries that can't fight back. If they're real human beings, they'll fight back.

Wait. My daughter's gay?

Gay marriage isn't that bad.

#27299

Billie from Ockham wrote:Wasn't Radford's goal to get a retraction from Stollznow, people to take down libelous stories about him, and then have everyone leave him the fuck alone? If so, Mykeru is not "defending" Radford; he's being a pain in the ass.

Yeah. Pretty much. And Mykeru got the DMCA for hosting the Stollznow ebegging vid, which he put up after BR finally got his retraction. For whatever reason he doesn't want to let it die, and I'm not really sure what his beef is. I get that he doesn't want other people to be fucked over by that couple, but I think they are pretty well discredited at this point. I don't think that pair of bozos will have much credibility the next time they start spouting accusations. Maybe I'm biased for having paid attention, but I'm under the impression that you can still find out about Stollznow's past misbehavior if you go looking.

ps. please note, dear Jack Skeptic, that I've clearly lost my grip on Mykeru's balls; this all must be a typo

I'm not going to claim that I know what he's on about, but I thought it had more to do with some notion that "true skeptics" don't criticize lawyers because SJWs do that, or something.

:think:

Dunno. Hurts my brain a little trying to figure it out.

#27300

comhcinc wrote:
deLurch wrote:
Brive1987 wrote:Radford's war is over. Mykeru is still spinning up.

I can see Mykeru's point. When crazy struck Radford and A/S he stepped in, possessing a values based hatred of this type of incursion.

Now Stollznow is threatening Mykeru and Radford is invisible.

I am sure Radford would like nothing better than to have Stollznow slip under the metaphorical bus. But legal pragmatics and the fact he's already spilt blood weigh against Mykeru's collaborative crusade model.
4-5 months left on Mykeru's copyright strike vs. spoiling a signed agreement that took a few years and $200k to put into place. The trade off just even close.
And it's not like he was in the right with the copyright and it's not like he doesn't have another youtube channel.

Neither of us are lawyers, but when does a piece of "intellectual property" become evidence in a fucking public crime? Marion Barry did NOT sign any consent or release forms normally required for people who perform in theatrical productions that are shown in many, many places across the globe.

[youtube]kKUqUi9Ao1k[/youtube]

Shouldn't the Barry estate (didn't he just die?) sue to keep this extremely embarrassing video from being in the public record? This is essentially a movie in which he performed. Tom Cruise gets royalties from his movies, why not Marion Barry?

This phone call makes Nixon look like a real asshole, now that we know he was lying like a rug. At no point did he sign a release. Why should this have been released?

[youtube]52PQxRMGraA[/youtube]