Bleeding from the Bunghole

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

I am against banning of religious symbols, worn or used by private individuals. There is a resurgence in Islamic understanding among Muslims, and many women choose the veil freely.

Of course. After many centuries of women being expected to veil themselves, many women brought up in that culture "freely choose" to wear the veil. Just as there are a surprising number of, say, Catholic women, who "freely" defend the idea of a male only diocese, etc. When there is such a overwhelming culture of expecting women to veil, is it really a "free" choice. I contend that it isn't.

However, I think a ban would be wrong.

Many women who "choose" the veil may have compulsions which are subtle. However, many women who choose the veil have mothers who did not choose the veil for themselves. This is a very common thing in my (former) community. For some reason, displays of piety are in vogue among Muslims, perhaps as a way to protest against what they think as Western intrusion into their way of life.

In any case, a ban does not seem reasonable. It is better to create means in which women can easily approach police or other help when they feel threatened or coerced. Of course, this is easier said than done, but is much better than just a highly counter productive blanket ban.

There is a HUGE difference between the veil (hijab) and the burka (or the niqab, almost the same), and there are very good arguments for banning niqabs and burkas, some of which pertain to security. I haven't seen a country willing to ban the hijab yet, and I would indeed find it very stupid. the niqab and burka? Fair game.

[Brive1987]

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... /#comments

42 and 45 are a laugh.

[Gefan]

Why do people get so pissed off about "appropriating culture"? Does white people listening to NWA mean somewhere an orphan must go without food?
Isn't every single culture in the history of the planet guilty of appropriating another culture at some point in time?

Thank you.

I am a white rapper and I am fucking SICK of twats telling me that by emulating certain artists and their vocal styles I am somehow being disrespectful of 'black culture'. Because by LIKING a type of music and THINKING IT IS GOOD I am being disrespectful? Fuck off, you unwittingly racist CUNTS!!!

Sorry. Had to get that off my chest.

In fairness, the rappers started it. They 've been appropriating your Scandinavian culture for years...

http://images.buddytv.com/articles/Imag ... r-flav.jpg

[James Caruthers]

Well, the important thing is you were able to turn an unfunny joke into an opportunity to lecture the pitt about partisanship. :lol:
http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx91 ... steers.png

:lol: ;-)

Not sure that I was lecturing anybody – just a comment in passing, sort of like everyone else here does all the time. And again, “unfunny” seems subjective and idiosyncratic – I thought Foshaug’s comment was a nice bit of satire of the tendency to overuse the #FTBullies hashtag, of making it tantamount to a charge of child molestation. Or father raping.

As for the partisan charge, I certainly wouldn’t argue that the Pit is as partisan as FTB, not by a long shot – and I’ve said so many times and in no uncertain terms. So while somewhat amusing, I think it rather wide of the mark.

In addition, I find the principle or idea intrinsically rather questionable. Personally, I’m quite happy that there are “superior” people, although I might feel a twinge or two of envy or jealousy for their glory. But I expect in most cases that is well deserved. Seems to me the question should be whether they’re right or not, not whether they’re better. Remember reading some sort of a sociological study many years ago that suggested that part of the problem with many native tribes or communities, including Muslim ones, was the tendency for everyone to pull everyone else down to the lowest common denominator - everyone suffers thereby.

Still, you do us all a great service by going over to FTB and pissing them off with your verbosity.

Sort of like the beaters who drive the game into the guns of the hunters? :-)

Although I try to reduce the amount of verbiage with the hopeful result of making at least a few telling shots myself.

Oh, I was just poking fun at you a bit. I don't think I've ever heard you argue that Pitt was "as bad as FTB" in any sense. That little snide remark about partisanship kind of seemed silly to me, because c'mon. Bjarte is just not funny, imo. I'd be willing to bet that every pitter who finds Bjarte not funny could laugh at jokes made at their expense by actually funny comedians. Humor is subjective, yeah, but what's not funny about Bjarte is the way he tells his jokes. His delivery is super horrible. The jokes themselves also tend to be sub-par, like the one about misogyny being a glitch in the system or something like that? Just... Ugh, so lifeless.

You want to hear something funny? Googling "Bjarte Foshaug comic" now brings up the fake Bjartes within the first 20 images or so. :P It won't be long before the average FTBlogger or Ophelia Benson looking for a Bjarte strip is unable to find the real ones because of all the fakes shitting up Google Image Search.

I don't think most people really change what they find funny/don't find funny based on their politics/partisan beliefs. Comedians like Matt Parker, Trey Stone, Bill Burr and Jim Jeffries go out of their way to offend everyone and they get quite a lot of laughter out of it.

As for riling up FTB, I meant you do me a service by letting me sit back and laugh as the commentariat twist themselves in knots. Jan Stein's Nerd of Redhead fish comic was really perfect at describing the situation:

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

This is exactly what I see when I stumble drunkenly onto FTB and see you arguing with someone in the comments. :lol:

[Gefan]

FTR, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the pig-piling of Steers. Yes, he's long-winded, and misses nine jokes out of ten, but he's one of us, dammit! Plus, Steers' intentions are always good, and he regularly goes over to ThoughtFreeBlogs to do the dirty job no one else wants. Every once in a while, Steers can be pithy; when he's not, just scroll, man, scroll. That, and your endless slams are boring me.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

I have nobody on "ignore", because I would rather not see someone congratulating me than miss someone giving me deserved shit. If I have observed a pattern of commenting which leads me to not have much respect for that commenter (not saying this is or isn't the case for me with Steers), then I will scroll past.

I think that the people like Mykeru (whose writings I adore, seriously) who have Steers on ignore (well, so they say!!!) miss out on a lot of interesting..."stuff".

Now, Wonderist? Fuck me, there was a guy who was on my automatic scroll list. In fact, he was the list.

I like Steersman. I have no idea what he's on about half the time, but that's true of a lot of people here. I just attribute it to my still trying to qualify for entry into Phil's crayon-chewing group.

[Dick Strawkins]

There is a HUGE difference between the veil (hijab) and the burka (or the niqab, almost the same), and there are very good arguments for banning niqabs and burkas, some of which pertain to security. I haven't seen a country willing to ban the hijab yet, and I would indeed find it very stupid. the niqab and burka? Fair game.

If there are security reasons then why call it a ban on the niqab or burka?
These reasons, I presume, involve the problem of facial coverings and the associated anonymity this may accord someone performing a crime, rather than the rest of the outfit.
Surely the ban should be on facial coverings, not on niqabs or burkas?
In other words it would be an indirect result of the law that makes wearing burkas or niqabs illegal, not the primary aim.

But...

I have worries that any such law would impinge on other liberties currently enjoyed by individuals in free societies.
For example, would a ban on face coverings in public have the effect that 'anonymous' masks are going to be illegal to wear in public (for example in a protest march or demonstration)?
How about halloween or party masks?
It's a complicated situation and other than a general rule saying no face coverings in government buildings (for example schools, hospitals etc) I'm not sure how we can create a decent law about this.

[Badger3k]

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... /#comments

42 and 45 are a laugh.

I guess Paiger at 65 will be banned soon. Plus, will we see some Pharyngula slash-fix soon:

63

Jafafa Hots
27 November 2013 at 6:55 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Anthony K, I like the cut of your jib.

Well, I was assuming the sex of both parties, so I could be wrong (plus, I'm not sure Anthony qualifies as having a sex, let alone sex - cats don't count).

[Badger3k]

Thought about adding a few quotes right as I hit the button:

Paiger at 65:

64

paiger
27 November 2013 at 8:58 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Elevatorgate…..still????
Richard Dawkins “Muslima” letter was intriguing and I understand the point he was trying to make. The young female speaker who started this nonsense has a lot to learn about life. I’m twice her age, female, and have experienced sexual harassment/assault in my 25 year career as an Army nurse. Compared to what I’ve experienced, the incident in the elevator is trivial beyond words.

What I’m seeing now, months later, is a snowballing of useless gossip and unsubstantiated accusations against brilliant, highly respected men. No one has been charged/convicted. These are serious allegations being made, and in the US, you are innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof is always on the person making the claim. Otherwise it’s just a he said/she said, and there are always two sides to every story..

Plus, the continual misrepresentation of the real issue with some or most of us here:

66

Al Dente
27 November 2013 at 9:29 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
paiger @64

Compared to what I’ve experienced, the incident in the elevator is trivial beyond words.

Not according to the Slymepitters. They think that Rebecca Watson saying “Guys, don’t do that” marks the end of civilization as they know it.

Derp!

[Badger3k]

I like Steersman. I have no idea what he's on about half the time, but that's true of a lot of people here. I just attribute it to my still trying to qualify for entry into Phil's crayon-chewing group.

When I read him, or I see his quotes, he seems to react to life like Data - not quite getting it (well, Data got it eventually, mostly, I think - I missed a lot towards the end when they did all that Kardassian [sp?] crap) but blindly carrying on.

[DownThunder]

http://www.badhaven.com/wp-content/uplo ... 800-75.jpg

"I'll concede that my sense of humour might not be as well developed as some here"

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

There is a HUGE difference between the veil (hijab) and the burka (or the niqab, almost the same), and there are very good arguments for banning niqabs and burkas, some of which pertain to security. I haven't seen a country willing to ban the hijab yet, and I would indeed find it very stupid. the niqab and burka? Fair game.

If there are security reasons then why call it a ban on the niqab or burka?
These reasons, I presume, involve the problem of facial coverings and the associated anonymity this may accord someone performing a crime, rather than the rest of the outfit.
Surely the ban should be on facial coverings, not on niqabs or burkas?
In other words it would be an indirect result of the law that makes wearing burkas or niqabs illegal, not the primary aim.

But...

I have worries that any such law would impinge on other liberties currently enjoyed by individuals in free societies.
For example, would a ban on face coverings in public have the effect that 'anonymous' masks are going to be illegal to wear in public (for example in a protest march or demonstration)?
How about halloween or party masks?
It's a complicated situation and other than a general rule saying no face coverings in government buildings (for example schools, hospitals etc) I'm not sure how we can create a decent law about this.

the law we have in France is exactly that: no covering of the face in public spaces, except for legitimate reasons (firemen, people on bikes, doctors...). I think party masks are exempt during the time of celebration, but covering one's face during a protest is very verbotten. And for good reasons too, that will become evident if you ever participate in a French protest (also known as "any day that ends in Y").

So niqabs and burkas are collateral damage to that law, but not the main target.

[Steersman]

<snip>
Sort of like the beaters who drive the game into the guns of the hunters? :-)

Although I try to reduce the amount of verbiage with the hopeful result of making at least a few telling shots myself.

Oh, I was just poking fun at you a bit. I don't think I've ever heard you argue that Pitt was "as bad as FTB" in any sense. That little snide remark about partisanship kind of seemed silly to me, because c'mon. Bjarte is just not funny, imo. I'd be willing to bet that every pitter who finds Bjarte not funny could laugh at jokes made at their expense by actually funny comedians. Humor is subjective, yeah, but what's not funny about Bjarte is the way he tells his jokes. His delivery is super horrible. The jokes themselves also tend to be sub-par, like the one about misogyny being a glitch in the system or something like that? Just... Ugh, so lifeless.
http://i.imgur.com/gaYAYWD.jpg
<snip>
This is exactly what I see when I stumble drunkenly onto FTB and see you arguing with someone in the comments. :lol:

:-)

Quite agree as most of the Foshaug cartoons really didn’t seem all that funny to me – not that that is necessarily saying much though. But what I found particularly annoying was that the one which started the whole ball rolling, I think, was based on some some highly questionable stereotyping, his suggestion that significant numbers of the people using the #FTBullies hashtag were actually arguing that women should be treated as toilets. He would have made a fine addition to Goebbel’s Ministry of Truth with propaganda like that.

But I certainly got a kick out of that fish comic of Steen’s – some benefit from being able to laugh at ourselves. Maybe part of the reason why I like Jewish humour which supposedly is heavy on the self-deprecating aspect – kind of hard to argue that the humour is based on schadenfreude, on feeling superior when oneself is also the target.

[Pitchguest]

Thought about adding a few quotes right as I hit the button:

Paiger at 65:

64

paiger
27 November 2013 at 8:58 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Elevatorgate…..still????
Richard Dawkins “Muslima” letter was intriguing and I understand the point he was trying to make. The young female speaker who started this nonsense has a lot to learn about life. I’m twice her age, female, and have experienced sexual harassment/assault in my 25 year career as an Army nurse. Compared to what I’ve experienced, the incident in the elevator is trivial beyond words.

What I’m seeing now, months later, is a snowballing of useless gossip and unsubstantiated accusations against brilliant, highly respected men. No one has been charged/convicted. These are serious allegations being made, and in the US, you are innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof is always on the person making the claim. Otherwise it’s just a he said/she said, and there are always two sides to every story..

Plus, the continual misrepresentation of the real issue with some or most of us here:

66

Al Dente
27 November 2013 at 9:29 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
paiger @64

Compared to what I’ve experienced, the incident in the elevator is trivial beyond words.

Not according to the Slymepitters. They think that Rebecca Watson saying “Guys, don’t do that” marks the end of civilization as they know it.

Derp!

They just can't seem to get that right, can they?

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Nobody don't touch my Steers! (and again because I still love it so:)

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo35 ... 29a836.png

This picture was the very first time I actually, geniunelly laughed out loud on the Pit, even causing Ali to come running to see what's wrong.

[Steersman]

FTR, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the pig-piling of Steers. Yes, he's long-winded, and misses nine jokes out of ten, but he's one of us, dammit! Plus, Steers' intentions are always good, and he regularly goes over to ThoughtFreeBlogs to do the dirty job no one else wants. Every once in a while, Steers can be pithy; when he's not, just scroll, man, scroll. That, and your endless slams are boring me.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

I have nobody on "ignore", because I would rather not see someone congratulating me than miss someone giving me deserved shit. If I have observed a pattern of commenting which leads me to not have much respect for that commenter (not saying this is or isn't the case for me with Steers), then I will scroll past.

I think that the people like Mykeru (whose writings I adore, seriously) who have Steers on ignore (well, so they say!!!) miss out on a lot of interesting..."stuff".

Now, Wonderist? Fuck me, there was a guy who was on my automatic scroll list. In fact, he was the list.

I like Steersman. I have no idea what he's on about half the time, but that's true of a lot of people here. I just attribute it to my still trying to qualify for entry into Phil's crayon-chewing group.

Thanks – likewise. Your Clownfall series is classic even if I don’t get many of the references. Part of the reason why I think all of our patterns of thought and ways of thinking are like Egyptian hieroglyphics – frequently need a Rosetta stone to understand the internal links and references, and connections happening underneath the hoods.

Case in point being, I think, Badger’s recent quote of several comments on Pharyngula: Paiger thinks Watson’s experience in the elevator was “trivial beyond words” yet Al Dente thinks, no doubt somewhat hyperbolically, that “we” [Pitters] think that was “the end of civilization as we know it” while I expect many here would argue that that was the way we think Watson reacted – a Rape of the Lock, and a comedy of errors. Very different interpretations and perspectives – totally incongruent as Shermer suggested as I’ve mentioned before.

Reminds me of something I've quoted a couple of times before, this bit from Dawkins’ The God Delusion about intentionality:

Dennett speaks of ‘third-order’ intentionality (the man believed that the woman knew he wanted her), ‘fourth-order’ intentionality (the woman realized that the man believed that the woman knew he wanted her) and even ‘fifth-order’ intentionality (the shaman guessed that the woman realized that the man believed that the woman knew he wanted her). Very high orders of intentionality are probably confined to fiction, as satirized in Michael Frayn’s hilarious novel ‘The Tin Men’: ‘Watching Numopoulos, Rick knew that he was almost certain that Anna felt a passionate contempt for Fiddlingchild’s failure to understand her feelings about Fiddlingchild, and she knew too that Nina knew she knew about Nunopoulos’s knowledge …’ But the fact that we can laugh about such contortions of other-mind inference in fiction is probably telling us something important about the way our minds have been naturally selected to work in the real world. (pg 213)

I think I frequently lose it at the third or fourth level if not the second, depending on how many drinks I've had. :-)

[James Caruthers]

... kind of hard to argue that the humour is based on schadenfreude, on feeling superior when oneself is also the target.

It's called a humblebrag.
http://www.jeffpearlman.com/wp-content/ ... cached.png

In contrast with regular bragging:

http://glossymusings.com/wp-content/upl ... 7MtV_f.jpg

Humblebrags allow for the certain amount of self-mockery while still puffing an ego nicely or giving off an air of superiority. :lol:

I see a lot of humblebragging on FTB and A+, but also a fair amount of regular bragging. Avicenna and Carrier are the best example of regular braggers.

[Steersman]

Nobody don't touch my Steers! (and again because I still love it so:)

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo35 ... 29a836.png

This picture was the very first time I actually, geniunelly laughed out loud on the Pit, even causing Ali to come running to see what's wrong.

Yes indeedy, a classic – seriously. :-)

Reminds me of an aphorism I was thinking of earlier this evening, sort of along the line of something that CH20 said a few comments back: “God grant us the grace to see ourselves as others see us”. That is maybe a bit of a stretch, a bridge too far, a suggestion of actually agreeing with those other views.

But there is certainly some benefit to seeing how others see us even if we don’t necessarily always agree. A question of the benefits of feedback. /Here endeth the lesson (Book II, Chapter 3, verse 5) ….

[Za-zen]

Breaking News:
Bjarte Flounces Atheism
5 hours ago, in 3 tweets:
http://i.imgur.com/seBPaQp.png

Bjarte renounces Dawkins, space-time continuum cannot remain stable, collapses.

When I was about ten, I fancied my room a nation. I made a four-starred flag for it, one for each of the four states (Bed, Desk, Door, and Closet.) That was just shits and giggles for a ten year-old.

I get the feeling that Mr. Foshaug's brain works in a similar way when relating to the outside world, except for serious. So help me Joomungandr!

At roughly the same age, i went further. Sending a letter to the Prime Minister declaring my bedroom to be an independent state. (Parents really really shouldn't encourage their children to question norms. Luckily the Prime Minister didn't find the time to send an expeditionary force to reclaim the rebel territory).

[Dick Strawkins]

I see a lot of humblebragging on FTB and A+, but also a fair amount of regular bragging. Avicenna and Carrier are the best example of regular braggers.

Avicenna is the one that I cannot understand.
Reading his posts you do occasionally see some decent writing, particularly when he talks about woo intrusion into medicine.
I think he is the only one of the FTB writers that is qualified to talk on that topic.
He also has some degree of perspective on different cultures - having grown up in the UK and now doing a work placement in India.

But I also detect something very troubling about his approach to blogging.
I went to college in the UK and I've worked in medical research for many years. I understand the process of training to be a physician in the UK and from what I can tell Avicenna is still undergoing training (he complained bitterly within the last year that he was worried that his parents were threatening to stop financially supporting him because they disapproved of his relationship with his girlfriend, and that would mean he might not be able to complete his qualifications.)
If that is the case, and he is not yet fully qualified to work as a hospital doctor or GP in the UK, he is at the point in his training where many students undergo something which is called a 'medical elective placement'. This is a kind of work experience placement in a situation where they can gain knowledge of medical practice in challenging circumstances.
Many degrees require you to do work placements in different settings and I don't see anything unusual in the fact that Avicenna is also doing this.
What I do find troubling is his constant bragging about this placement as though he had given up a lucrative career as a physician in the UK in order to devote himself to a life of poverty saving the lives of the poor of India.
It's quite sickening. Now, I'm not denying the possibility that he MIGHT do that in the future, but that is just a hypothetical that is rendered unlikely by his admission that he is going to move back to the UK in the next year.
At his stage of training, nobody is making a ton of money as a medic. The high wages will come after he is fully qualified - and it looks like he fully intends to be in the UK at that point in time.
As I've mentioned previously about him, he doesn't seem to read his own posts, at least not enough to realize that while each one makes sense on it's own, they don't when read as part of an ongoing narrative.
He seems to mix fantasy with reality - hence the debacle where he created a hypothetical rape accusation in one post and then seemed to forget about it and soon after wrote about an identical false accusation coming from an email. This led to the further idiocy involving accusations about Richard Sanderson being the source of the 'email' - and complete avoidance of the point that it was oolon who reignited the matter.
He has also shown that he is prepared to take comments from the slymepit and then claim they were emails sent to him which he proceeds to spin out into a blog post. If 'email' is such a flexible term then what should we make of his previous claims of 'emails' about the false rape accusation?
Avicenna has also recently made a couple of claims about being in the Philippines helping the Haiyan disaster situation despite previous claims that he was far too ill to go there.
And yet days later he mentions he is in India!
Like I said, if you read his posts as a narrative they really don't make sense.

[Za-zen]

Overheard 2 (white) women in their early 20's talking (loudly) at the next table at an Indian* restaurant tonight.

(*South Asian Indian, not American Indian)

It was mostly Person A griping at Person B. And griping and griping. (What's in parentheses is my editorial comments.)

Person A:
- Is So Disappointed in Her Generation, because they are So Shallow.
- Works at a clothing store.
- Hasn't tried on the Medium clothes there because "Medium is such a loaded term, it makes it sound like you are average".
- Is thinking of quitting her job, because the people there are not Supportive of her
- Also because she hasn't made friends there; her coworkers think she Doesn't Have a Sense of Humor, "because I don't laugh at jokes that make fun of people with mental illness" (perhaps not surprising: not a single instance of humor arose during their conversation, AFAICT, & no laughter)
- And she has such an easy time making friends, just imagine how it would be for someone who gets Triggered Easily
- Speaking of which, the clothing store has perfume testers (= sample sprayers on the counter; presumably they sell perfume) - how awful for someone with Perfume Allergy should someone with that condition ever walk into the store. It would be so easy to be considerate of such a person but they would never think of that.
- If she leaves this job, she might not even ask them for a letter of reference
- The reason* for not asking for a letter is how un-supportive they are of her
- *Oh and also because she shows up late to work most days so maybe the letter wouldn't be good
- She has looked at listings for jobs on campus but they are food serving jobs and she is never going to take a job serving food
- Oh and the other thing about work is you start expressing your views & they call you a "feminist" and most of the time they put "nazi" in the same sentence.

Right about then my check came, and I had caught up on the Slymepit on my phone anyway, so I headed out and will never know How It Ends.

I think most of us could make a good guess as to where this girl's future is going

[Za-zen]

Irony Amusement:

While all the SJW's are fretting and worrying about the folks in the PI and other places smacked by the typhoon, you know who's helping the fuck out of them?

The US Navy.

Yeah yeah, imperialist oppressors. But when your bit of land has been scoured by the Hand o' Godâ„¢, the sight of a carrier group dropping anchor, full of supplies and people who are trained and motivated to help you has got to be pretty fucking awesome.

Meanwhile, i'm sure PZ will mention them as a reason why Thanksgiving sucks in between bites of jello and lutefisk.

I certainly do not consider myself a flag waver of any description, but the disdain that SJW's show the military disgusts me. They are utterly clueless as to the reality of the world outside of their sealed bubble, that bubble safegaurded by the very same traditions they despise.

There are barbarians at the door, there always were, and likely, there always will be. Those people who choose to enter the armed forces, either, like me, for adventure and to put myself to the test, or for reasons of patriotism, create and are the tradition they despise.

I would gladly trade one fallen warrior who sang his death song, for all the social justice warriors, and my heart wouldn't miss a beat.

[youtube]oIJ3F9lrKNE[/youtube]

[Gefan]

Breaking News:
Bjarte Flounces Atheism
5 hours ago, in 3 tweets:
http://i.imgur.com/seBPaQp.png

Furthermore, every minute he spends on Twitter is a minute not spent creating stick figure assassins and sending them out to commit crimes against comedy.

[Badger3k]

I see a lot of humblebragging on FTB and A+, but also a fair amount of regular bragging. Avicenna and Carrier are the best example of regular braggers.

Avicenna is the one that I cannot understand.
Reading his posts you do occasionally see some decent writing, particularly when he talks about woo intrusion into medicine.
I think he is the only one of the FTB writers that is qualified to talk on that topic.
He also has some degree of perspective on different cultures - having grown up in the UK and now doing a work placement in India.

But I also detect something very troubling about his approach to blogging.
I went to college in the UK and I've worked in medical research for many years. I understand the process of training to be a physician in the UK and from what I can tell Avicenna is still undergoing training (he complained bitterly within the last year that he was worried that his parents were threatening to stop financially supporting him because they disapproved of his relationship with his girlfriend, and that would mean he might not be able to complete his qualifications.)
If that is the case, and he is not yet fully qualified to work as a hospital doctor or GP in the UK, he is at the point in his training where many students undergo something which is called a 'medical elective placement'. This is a kind of work experience placement in a situation where they can gain knowledge of medical practice in challenging circumstances.
Many degrees require you to do work placements in different settings and I don't see anything unusual in the fact that Avicenna is also doing this.
What I do find troubling is his constant bragging about this placement as though he had given up a lucrative career as a physician in the UK in order to devote himself to a life of poverty saving the lives of the poor of India.
It's quite sickening. Now, I'm not denying the possibility that he MIGHT do that in the future, but that is just a hypothetical that is rendered unlikely by his admission that he is going to move back to the UK in the next year.
At his stage of training, nobody is making a ton of money as a medic. The high wages will come after he is fully qualified - and it looks like he fully intends to be in the UK at that point in time.
As I've mentioned previously about him, he doesn't seem to read his own posts, at least not enough to realize that while each one makes sense on it's own, they don't when read as part of an ongoing narrative.
He seems to mix fantasy with reality - hence the debacle where he created a hypothetical rape accusation in one post and then seemed to forget about it and soon after wrote about an identical false accusation coming from an email. This led to the further idiocy involving accusations about Richard Sanderson being the source of the 'email' - and complete avoidance of the point that it was oolon who reignited the matter.
He has also shown that he is prepared to take comments from the slymepit and then claim they were emails sent to him which he proceeds to spin out into a blog post. If 'email' is such a flexible term then what should we make of his previous claims of 'emails' about the false rape accusation?
Avicenna has also recently made a couple of claims about being in the Philippines helping the Haiyan disaster situation despite previous claims that he was far too ill to go there.
And yet days later he mentions he is in India!
Like I said, if you read his posts as a narrative they really don't make sense.

It does make you wonder. He had some post up about self-harm, and about somebody who helped him, and this had something to do with him going into medicine (it was long and I didn't think it was worth more than a quick skim). Now I wonder if that was real, or another fantasy, or if it might be a source of his online fantasy life, or...who knows. Honestly, while I like puzzles a lot, it's not worth taking the time, especially since we probably have no access to any real information. It just means we either take him at his word, or mistrust everything. Or ignore him most of the time and let him stew. :violin:

[Badger3k]

Not sure if anybody has heard this bit - but since someone put up a song I'd been looking for for years, maybe someone has some knowledge. Years ago, on one of these morning shows, they had a parody of "50 ways to leave your lover", but it was about different names for masturbation. Spank the monkey, slap the porpoise, quite a few others. I thought maybe it was Bob Rivers - he does quite a bit like it. Couldn't find anything, nor anything with Bob & Tom (a morning show that does a lot of spoof stuff). A google search in multiple formats gets nowhere, and it may not even be online anywhere, but just in case, I wondered if anyone has any memory of anything like this.

[Brive1987]

It's kind of ironic that PZ's most boring patch to date coincides with the Nugent grenade. Intellectual leader and fifth horseman indeed.

[Brive1987]

Not sure if anybody has heard this bit - but since someone put up a song I'd been looking for for years, maybe someone has some knowledge. Years ago, on one of these morning shows, they had a parody of "50 ways to leave your lover", but it was about different names for masturbation. Spank the monkey, slap the porpoise, quite a few others. I thought maybe it was Bob Rivers - he does quite a bit like it. Couldn't find anything, nor anything with Bob & Tom (a morning show that does a lot of spoof stuff). A google search in multiple formats gets nowhere, and it may not even be online anywhere, but just in case, I wondered if anyone has any memory of anything like this.

Are these there the words?

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread. ... 374&page=2

[Dick Strawkins]

http://i.imgur.com/6lD6I4I.jpg

[Brive1987]

Not sure if anybody has heard this bit - but since someone put up a song I'd been looking for for years, maybe someone has some knowledge. Years ago, on one of these morning shows, they had a parody of "50 ways to leave your lover", but it was about different names for masturbation. Spank the monkey, slap the porpoise, quite a few others. I thought maybe it was Bob Rivers - he does quite a bit like it. Couldn't find anything, nor anything with Bob & Tom (a morning show that does a lot of spoof stuff). A google search in multiple formats gets nowhere, and it may not even be online anywhere, but just in case, I wondered if anyone has any memory of anything like this.

Good luck trying to find the The Wayward Clams (2002) - no sign of em outside that lyric post ref above.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

carry on my wayward claaaams...

[Brive1987]

Wonder if Pamela Gay is keeping it together, could be it all feels like a hazy dream now?

[AnonymousCowherd]

Has the Flower of Evil ever mentioned what part Lakota she is? Because all the registered Sioux tribes require a 1/4 blood quantum (not mere lineage) for membership. Even at 25%, Caine is, to the closet approximation to one, a white peoples. Pretty damn sure she's not a tribal member -- anyone brave enough to ask her? -- making her what actual tribal members refer to as a "pretendian."

Aw man, she's gonna be mad now.

DOUBLY mad...

Enough to squawk about it?

[AnonymousCowherd]

Are FTB having some kind of sponsored dumbathon today?
After Ophelias earlier babble we have a new condender for worst post ever.
It's Mrs Ra, Lillandra, who turns up to complain that her Japanese heritage is being stolen by Katy Perry.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/aronra/2013 ... ed-racist/

"I am the resident East Eurasian here."

Jeezus, she's reaching over her shoulder to scratch her ass. Her lineage lies in a 2000 mile vicinity of Japan, so her anger has authority? Most of those countries don't exactly hold the Japanese in high regard anyway, and would bristle if you suggested they have cultural commonality.

I'm a genuine Japanese half-breed, so I'm pulling oppression rank on Mrs Ra -- she can go stick her head in a bucket. Both of us are standard issue American mutts, but only one of us seems to know it. Her personal umbrage on behalf of any "east Asian" country is stupid posturing.

East Eurasian? Wouldn't that make her from the (how can I say this) "back end" of Turkey?

Cue the Twerky...

[Southern]

They think they're witty and light-spirited. "Har, har, har, look at me, I call my wife Trophy Wife, even if she's the one that wears the pants in this marriage! Har, har, har! I just hope she doesn't find my tentacle hentai porn collection with Rebecca Watson's face cut and pasted all over it!".

... Its not paste. :?


</obvious joke>

Also, my great-grandparents came to the US from Russia. I am Asian as fuck. Im good at math, played the cello, and will kung fu yo ass. Had some delicious mo-mo and madras chicken today for lunch, actually.

ASIA!

Helova continent.

As said by America's, ahem, greatest poet, Chris Brown:

Yellow model chick
Yellow bottle sipping
Yellow Lamborghini
Yellow top missing
Yeah, yeah
That shit look like a toupee
I get what you get in 10 years, in two days
Ladies love me, I'm on my Cool J
If you get what I get, what would you say?
She wax it all off, Mr Miyagi
And them suicide doors, Hari Kari

[Keating]

These reasons, I presume, involve the problem of facial coverings and the associated anonymity this may accord someone performing a crime, rather than the rest of the outfit.
Surely the ban should be on facial coverings, not on niqabs or burkas?

One aspect of Muslim and Jewish religions that annoys me a lot is Halal and Kosher foods. I'm quite happy to let people practice whatever woo makes them happy as long as it doesn't get in my face. I prefer my meat to be killed as humanely as possible, and I don't think the Halal or Kosher method of killing animals is that way. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find butchers or restaurants who don't sell Halal or Kosher meat. This bugs me.

[Dick Strawkins]

I think Caine layers it on a bit too heavily regarding her 128th heritage.
Every time I see her name now I get the following words going through my head:

http://i.imgur.com/umj3O8k.jpg

With the obligatory backing track...

[youtube]geHLdg_VNww[/youtube]

[AnonymousCowherd]

Breaking News:
Bjarte Flounces Atheism
5 hours ago, in 3 tweets:
http://i.imgur.com/seBPaQp.png

He's said those things before. And posted that pic. That's what he does all day, makes empty declarations, signifiers of a "good ally."

When he's not being funny:

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

So now Bjarte isn't an atheist or skeptic any more? He's into gawd and woo up to his armpits? Some ally that.

Also, Project Apocalyse sounds good. "We have the peas, now let's - oh hell with it deary me - boil 'em and be damned vigorously. Let them try to stop me. Take that patriarchy!

[Hunt]

Avicenna has also recently made a couple of claims about being in the Philippines helping the Haiyan disaster situation despite previous claims that he was far too ill to go there.
And yet days later he mentions he is in India!
Like I said, if you read his posts as a narrative they really don't make sense.

There does seem to be something strange about that dude. In months past I often wondered about he fact that he seems to get obsessed about any type of disaster that happens. It's possible that "Avicenna" is actually a composite blogger, composed of a number of individuals submitting blog posts. That would actually explain a lot about "his" blogging style and also the apparent impossible temporal and geographic contradictions. Alternatively, he might be an extraordinary individual able to pull off some rather amazing acts of physical and mental endurance. The other possibility, of course, is that he's a pathological liar.

[screwtape]

Sorry for the late reply but the power has been off for hours with the wind/rain last night.

Lillandra, who as far as I can tell has no connection whatsoever with Japan (I think one of her parents came from Thailand) is so busy jumping in, desperate to grab a piece of vicarious outrage, that she fails to spot her own racist assumptions.

P'raps Lillandra is turning Japanese:

[youtube]gEmJ-VWPDM4[/youtube]

[AnonymousCowherd]

http://i.imgur.com/6lD6I4I.jpg

Thanksgiving, Schmanksgiving!

[youtube]yaFUcQZSvoE[/youtube]

[AnonymousCowherd]

carry on my wayward claaaams...

Starring Henry Winkle-r

[AnonymousCowherd]

These reasons, I presume, involve the problem of facial coverings and the associated anonymity this may accord someone performing a crime, rather than the rest of the outfit.
Surely the ban should be on facial coverings, not on niqabs or burkas?

One aspect of Muslim and Jewish religions that annoys me a lot is Halal and Kosher foods. I'm quite happy to let people practice whatever woo makes them happy as long as it doesn't get in my face. I prefer my meat to be killed as humanely as possible, and I don't think the Halal or Kosher method of killing animals is that way. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find butchers or restaurants who don't sell Halal or Kosher meat. This bugs me.

There's an obvious, if drastic, solution to that. Don't go to the butchers. Maybe get a bigger bull-bar for the truck...

[youtube]Cf_g-1G8l7A[/youtube]

[QuiteSo]

Breaking News:
Bjarte Flounces Atheism
5 hours ago, in 3 tweets:
http://i.imgur.com/seBPaQp.png

He's said those things before. And posted that pic. That's what he does all day, makes empty declarations, signifiers of a "good ally."

When he's not being funny:

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

So now Bjarte isn't an atheist or skeptic any more? He's into gawd and woo up to his armpits? Some ally that.

Also, Project Apocalyse sounds good. "We have the peas, now let's - oh hell with it deary me - boil 'em and be damned vigorously. Let them try to stop me. Take that patriarchy!

Awhile back, Bjarte was calling for religious people to join A+ to help attack other atheists. Since he is so stupid he doesn't know what an atheist is (you don't stop being one unless you believe in a deity), he was a shit "ally" of the backstabbing variety anyway

[welch]

This is an interesting read: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainmen ... th-a-white
<snip>

Okay, I get the point—blacks in America are prejudged judged on the basis of their skin color, regardless of their "descent" or "personal narratives," and whites in America can sympathize but ultimately can't relate. So if a black person watches a movie about slavery with a white friend, it's possible that unwanted awkward feelings or conversations might ensue. Fine. ....

Fixed that for you – just to save Welch the effort of doing so himself ….

Not sure what you're getting at. Prejudge (meaning: to judge prematurely) is the word I chose to paraphrase the author's point that black strangers are sometimes deemed suspicious because they're black. To judge someone on the basis of skin color alone strikes me (and, I infer, the author) as premature. I stand by my word choice, which I think nicely conveys the spirit of the paraphrased material.

Perhaps you're suggesting that "prejudged on the basis of their skin color" is redundant or otherwise solecistic? If so, I disagree—having consulted a few dictionaries (not the one in my avatar, alas), I feel comfortable using prejudge rather than judge in that context. It just adds the admittedly subjective implication that the judgment was premature.

Now fuck off.

Steersman was attempting to troll me. He's about as good with that concept as he is with humor.

[welch]

Well then—fuck off, Welch.

[.youtube]uM01v_vVnbg[/youtube]

:)

In addition to humor, the "preview" button appears to be a source of confusion for you. That's okay grampa, here:

[youtube]uM01v_vVnbg[/youtube]

[welch]

Aw man, she's gonna be mad now.

DOUBLY mad...

Enough to squawk about it?

I don't think that's her chief complaint.

[paddybrown]

MALADY_HENSLEY.jpg

I really don't like how Social Justice Warriors, such as Melody Hensley instrumentalize health conditions, personal circumstances in order to extort support and/or as a way to deal with criticism. That way, they are switching the mode around and suddenly the expected interaction is that of supporting them, and by not supporting them the other party is portrayed as vicious. But this is emotional manipulation worthy of ridicule.

This is exactly right, and a perfect example is this twitter exchange between Gia Milinovich (married to physicist Brian Cox) and various twitter idiots. Highlights added for maximum lulz.

http://s29.postimg.org/ryfd7tauf/image.jpg
http://s28.postimg.org/i5sfq5y59/image.jpg

Holy fuck. I've talked about SJWs being spoiled, but I've never seen anyone try to get their way by throwing a literal temper tantrum on Twitter before!

[Suet Cardigan]

Holy fuck. I've talked about SJWs being spoiled, but I've never seen anyone try to get their way by throwing a literal temper tantrum on Twitter before!

http://images.cheezburger.com/completes ... aecd37.jpg

[jet_lagg]

FTR, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the pig-piling of Steers. Yes, he's long-winded, and misses nine jokes out of ten, but he's one of us, dammit! Plus, Steers' intentions are always good, and he regularly goes over to ThoughtFreeBlogs to do the dirty job no one else wants. Every once in a while, Steers can be pithy; when he's not, just scroll, man, scroll. That, and your endless slams are boring me.

I really thought it was all just some good natured ribbing between long time residents of the pit. It doesn't make any sense to me why you'd put someone on ignore here. One of the main reasons I decided to stick around after discovering the place is the diversity if types.

[Apples]

[Jonathan]

Outrageous.

[BarnOwl]

The Lord, Most Holy and Righteous PeeZus, discusses his Thanksgiving plans (http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... ing-plans/):

This is pretty much my plan for tomorrow.

... Thanksgiving is not about celebrating our separation from England, it’s about celebrating our plundering of the wealth of the native people of North America.

We are actually literally doing no work for Thanksgiving at all. We’re going to meet up with our son in St Cloud and probably go out to a Chinese restaurant or something.

We will not be going shopping at any time this weekend. I think that’s the other, modern meaning of Thanksgiving: it’s time to launch the orgy of bourgeois capitalist consumption.

Wow. What a fucking hero.

Does this moronic fat fucking airplane hopping, booze guzzling, overpriviliged overconsumer of the finer aspects of American middle class culture actually think he's a fucking Marxist or something now just because he whines about something on his bogblog?

My god, what a maroon. Jesus wept.

The "Buy Nothing Day" schtick doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you spend the rest of the year being a typical developed world consumer, which PeeZus appears to do. He's always got the latest iGadget, travels a lot and eats out at restaurants and bars, and doesn't live in some minimalist eco-cabin in the woods. Are the people who camp out next to the big box stores, waiting for the Black Friday sales, really hurting anything or hastening the collapse of western civilization? I doubt it. Maybe it's the only time they can get off from work to go shopping for holiday gifts or to snag the good sales. Not everyone can just blow off their job to travel to atheist conferences, or tell their students to write an essay because the flights were cancelled.

I can understand that PeeZus hates the Thanksgiving consumerism and excess, but why not respond in a positive way, by making donations to a local food bank, or serving food at one of the free dinners that almost every US community offers? Most food banks ramp up their donation programs right before Thanksgiving, because they can distribute the food as part of the Thanksgiving meal event. I guess that wouldn't make for exciting blogging.

[Cunt of Personality]

Too fucking lazy and passive-aggressive to do it herself, I suppose.

[Huehuehue]

These brilliant signs of a complete lack of self-awareness are really quite hilarious. Today we have learned that the Atheist community would be going strong but for that infernal Dear Muslima message!

I think it's pretty obvious that, if it wasn't the... "tyranny" of Dear Muslima, it'd just be some other thing. Sometimes I do wonder what inhabits such a self-absorbed mind.

[Bhurzum]

Holy fuck. I've talked about SJWs being spoiled, but I've never seen anyone try to get their way by throwing a literal temper tantrum on Twitter before!

Maybe not a temper tantrum but now we've seen a SJW use (claimed) mental health issues as justification for acting like a total dickhead. Maybe if I claim PTSD, I can go round to PZ's house and stuff a dead raccoon through his letterbox?

Mental health issues?

Pfft.

http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a61 ... dfb0e0.jpg

[mikelf]

These brilliant signs of a complete lack of self-awareness are really quite hilarious. Today we have learned that the Atheist community would be going strong but for that infernal Dear Muslima message!

I think it's pretty obvious that, if it wasn't the... "tyranny" of Dear Muslima, it'd just be some other thing. Sometimes I do wonder what inhabits such a self-absorbed mind.

http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/1/ ... 2009_6.jpg

[Scented Nectar]

Too fucking lazy and passive-aggressive to do it herself, I suppose.

No no, Jenny! Rather than destroying it, he has helped to expose the crazies that cling onto atheism/secularism. And yes, Jenny, you are one of the crazies. It all makes sense when you think of it as natural selection instead of 'women-are-toilets'. Elevatorgate separated out a lot of chaff from the wheat, and it dumped out a lot of dirty bathwater while keeping the baby. And that baby ain't you, Jenny!

[Bhurzum]

Too fucking lazy and passive-aggressive to do it herself, I suppose.

No no, Jenny! Rather than destroying it, he has helped to expose the crazies that cling onto atheism/secularism. And yes, Jenny, you are one of the crazies. It all makes sense when you think of it as natural selection instead of 'women-are-toilets'. Elevatorgate separated out a lot of chaff from the wheat, and it dumped out a lot of dirty bathwater while keeping the baby. And that baby ain't you, Jenny!

:clap:

[Dick Strawkins]

The idea that 'Dear Muslima' can destroy the atheist movement is about as logical as the idea that showing a bit of cleavage can cause an earthquake.

It is certainly true that the US atheist and skeptical movement has been subject to a lot of upheavals over the past couple of years, but with the likes McCreight, Myers and Watson as prominent figureheads, and Dick Carrier as it's intellectual artillery, it was never heading for a happy ending.

[MadGav]

No no, Jenny! Rather than destroying it, he has helped to expose the crazies that cling onto atheism/secularism. And yes, Jenny, you are one of the crazies. It all makes sense when you think of it as natural selection instead of 'women-are-toilets'. Elevatorgate separated out a lot of chaff from the wheat, and it dumped out a lot of dirty bathwater while keeping the baby. And that baby ain't you, Jenny!

lovethispost.jpg

(29.87 KiB) Downloaded 228 times

[gargamel]

Who wants to let Becky Booze know about this? http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press ... king-found

Maybe she can use 23andme to see if she has this mutation.