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Topics - Mesozoic Mister Nigel

#51
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / IS THAT CAINAD?
December 30, 2014, 02:38:10 AM
NO SERIOUSLY, AT THE VERY END OF THIS VIDEO, IS THAT CAINAD SINGING THE BYE-BYE SONG??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJyvcNmYwr4&list=PL5FF4A359D7985006&index=25
#52
So the one problem with the Peanut Gallery is that you can't bump threads. Nonetheless, I thought I would create a tribute thread showcasing some of the best of Holist's idiocy, combativeness, and unceasing general ill-humor.

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=31310.msg1134676#msg1134676

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=31299.msg1134646#msg1134646

Wow, I can't find A SINGLE THREAD in which he is not being an insufferable, condescending, pretentious fuckwit. Go figure!

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=31291.0

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=31295.0

Fucking GLORIOUS.

Quote from: Dildo Argentino on January 08, 2012, 09:42:40 PM
we all work on what we wish to work on
(those genuinely under coercion not included)

i happen to think that creating the res publica of a people, the establishment (or re-establishment, or restoration) of a country in the sense of a nation state is an outmoded enterprise with little merit

in order to find more timely and glorious work, it is expedient to review the situation that we find ourselves in first from a larger (global), then from a narrower (personal) perspective

none of what i will say is new

global perspective:

one earth, seven billion people

roughly one tenth of that number do not eat their fill every day of the week

at the same time, ten percent of the population dispose over eighty-five percent of all earthly wealth

within that number, the richest one percent control forty percent of the wealth

man does not live by bread alone

over half the population of the earth live in cities, though mostly not cities in the european sense

and well over half the population strive to realise, in their personal lives, the ideals of the welfare consumer society

lots of food, lots of channels, lots of clutter

estimating the size of the autonomous, adult population who hold their lives and their hands and thus purposefully form them is harder

after a small, highly subjective and far from representative opinion survey and a great deal of pondering i have concluded that such people occur in higher proportion in the third world (brutal existential uncertainty is a strong selection pressure at both the individual and the social levels)

the transitional margin between the autonomous and the slave/slaver group is quite wide and gradual along a number of distinct dimensions

globally, the proportion of autonomous, self-governing  adults is somewhere between 0.1 percent and 10 percent

as an incorrigible optimist, i would wager around 1 percent

one in a hundred people

*

personal perspective:

i posit that only sovereign, adult people, who know their own lives and hold them in their hands in order to shape them are capable of authentic political action

i posit that in the present situation authentic political action is impossible without first letting go of all sorts of national or racial phantasmagories, imaginings, emotional tangles

i posit that today, authentic political action may be aimed at the following two targets (possibly among others, i am not making an exhaustive claim here):

firstly, moving fellow humans in the transitional stages between being robots and being people (or half-asleep, or what have you) towards sufficient levels of sovereignity

such actions include raising children, clarity of thinking and speech and the exemplary practice of authentic ways of being

secondly, the strengthening, supporting, mobilisation, vitalisation of the networks, the systems of interrelationships of autonomous people

this includes tribal enterprise, active community building and maintenance, trust-based barter trade and the promotion of communication and cooperation between small sovereign communities

thank you for your attention
#53
I'm not sure whether this has been posted here before, but I thought it might be useful: http://www.cfr.org/interactives/GH_Vaccine_Map/#map
#54
I don't know what it makes me want, but it isn't heroin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD2XV_Ri800
#55
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / For Doktor Howl
December 15, 2014, 01:31:48 AM
Two things:

1. Portland's official city slogan is "The City That Works"

2. http://portlandtribune.com/component/content/article?id=85433

Among other jewels:
QuoteWhat do Interstate 5 drivers see as they peel off the freeway and head down the chute that leads to the Morrison Bridge and into downtown?

Yes, the glittering towers of concrete and glass, nestling on a bed of greens. But there's also a guide sign with puckered white lettering that reads 'Washingon Street' on a backboard that instead of the usual green looks like a piece of toast. Why?

About 100 feet farther on there's another, hanging from a rusty support. Next to that is an empty space where another sign used to point to the turnoff to Naito Parkway.

The reason they've been there so long is no one knew who was responsible for it. The 'Washington Street' guide signs are usually the City of Portland Office of Transportation's territory, except when they are on river bridges, which are the responsibility of the county.

Just to confuse things further, the state maintains signs on state highways - and Naito Parkway used to be one. Until five years ago the state also maintained signs pointing to state highways. When the state stopped caring for them it removed the Naito Parkway turnoff sign. But only that one.

I DON'T EVEN NOTICE THIS SHIT.
#56
He's been missing for EVER.

Anyway, I just saw this and was amazed by the fact that somehow Dave Grohl managed to get more douchey. Is he fucking for real? Talking about kids these days? Finding a drum set at a garage sale? Where the fuck did he grow up, Magnolia? That shit doesn't happen for common people.



GIT OFF MAH LAWN!

As an aside, I think this guy was at the show when my ex's band got signed.
#57
Recently I've noticed a category of people I've encountered all my life but never really thought about before; the nerd who isn't particularly bright.

My thoughts on this subject aren't particularly well-defined, but I thought I'd start rambling and see if anything useful or interesting emerges. This particular thought was triggered by a guy I know who has all of the trappings of nerd-dom and is undeniably a nerd: loves science fiction, reads voraciously, has a fantastic vocabulary and great grammar, adores tabletop gaming, and "loves science" in that way that nerdy people do... you know, by watching Cosmos, thinking Bill Nye is awesome, and liking the "I Fucking Love Science" page on Facebook. He prides himself on his intelligence, which he assumes is considerable, and has vast contempt for the unwashed masses and the stupid. Not that he's a bad guy, though; he just, like many people who consider themselves smart, has a low tolerance for stupidity.

However, he seems beneath it all to not be all that intelligent; when presented with a novel piece of information, he either accepts it or rejects it based primarily on how well it matches his internal models, without investigating it to find out whether it has solid support. The result is that he ends up believing things that are easily demonstrated to be false, and rejecting things that are easily demonstrated to be true, based essentially only on whether the premise fits his expectations and worldview.

Maybe this is just my personal definition, but it seems to me that fact-checking and critical thinking are key elements of intelligence. They are definitely key elements of science. From that perspective, he simply seems like someone who has been trained in all the trappings of intelligence but lacks the foundational capacity to retrain himself. On the other hand, it could be that he has the capacity, but has never been trained to use it.

I have a feeling we all know this guy, or someone like him. Maybe someone who is into Doctor Who and puns, writes science fiction, considers himself highly intelligent, and talks with the nerd lisp and is, bless his heart, just kind of dumb.

I'm not really going anywhere with this, I lack a punchline.

Thoughts?

#59
I feel like this opportunity is not to be wasted.

hxxpp://art.state.gov/callout.aspx

Quote- Invitation to submit text -

American artist Jenny Holzer and the office of Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State, seek text to be included in a permanent artwork for the new American Embassy in London. Students are invited to submit short, powerful writing on any topic relevant to British-American relations or statecraft. Cultural exchange is crucial, so students from both the US and UK are encouraged to participate. Selected texts will be carved into stone on highly visible walls around the Embassy, and collected on a web platform.
#60
I hate alliteration. But I did it anyway, because I like being a dick, even if it's just to myself.

This is real old but I fucking love it anyway: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/412229

QuoteResearchers may have found the location of sense of humor in the brain, according to their presentation at the 86th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago, Illinois.

Humor appreciation appears to be based in the lower frontal lobes of the brain, a location associated with social and emotional judgment and planning, according to imaging research. That might explain why people who have suffered strokes involving the lower frontal lobes of the brain may have alterations of personality which include loss of their sense of humor.

"A small part of the frontal lobes appears critical to our ability to recognize a joke," said Dean K. Shibata, MD, assistant professor of radiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York, and principal investigator of a study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map activity in the brain while it is registering humor. "Although the purpose of humor and laughter is still largely unknown despite 2,000 years of speculation, having a sense of humor is a key part of our personalities and it can play a powerful role in balancing negative emotions, such as fear.
#61
Literate Chaotic / Just in time for Halloween!
October 31, 2014, 10:51:19 PM
So I happened upon this website, and this story in particular, and it's, um. Special. Really special. And it disturbed me a lot, although possibly not in the ways the author intended.

Please read it.

Please.

Please.

:lulz:

hxxp://www.thevoicebeforethevoid.net/north-dakota-devils-lake-2013-october-by-the-voice-before-the-void/
#62
While this isn't entirely reflective of my experience, it does capture some elements.

http://thehigherlearning.com/2014/02/01/mixed-in-modern-america/

QuoteI had a very interesting encounter today. I was sitting in the Malcolm X Lounge, a study room at the University of Texas that's dedicated to African-American studies, but open to anyone. I was on a couch and had my feet up on a small table. When a girl came and sat down on the couch to my left, I jokingly made a big deal about moving my legs. She responded with, "Stop being so lazy, light-skin."

I really wasn't offended by the light-skin reference, but I was totally caught off guard by the way she used the term. See light-skinnededness (no that's not a real word) has been the target of black humor for a while now, but usually people just say...
#63
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / So did you know
October 16, 2014, 12:43:29 AM
...that your skin has odor receptors?

Your whole body is a nose.

You're welcome.
#65
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / I did this for you
September 23, 2014, 01:18:22 AM
If someone gives someone a gift that they did not ask for and do not want, was the gift really for the recipient, or was it really for the giver?
#66
...that in Portland, there is a store that sells frisbees.

JUST frisbees.

:crankey:
#68
So here's a thought.

Many people seem convinced that the amenities and relative ease of modern life are going to make us -- or in fact, are already making us -- dumber as a species.

However, many social neuroscience researchers think that our high intelligence is a direct result not of overcoming hardships, but of our extremely large (compared to other species) social networks. 

Modern social networks are vastly larger and more complex, with many more tiers of interaction, than social networks have ever been at any time in the past. It stands to reason that people who are better able to manage these huge social networks, and thus manage the multitude of associations between people and contexts, will be more liked, will be able to exploit potentially lucrative connections, will be more successful and thrive better, and ultimately will be more numerous, than those who are less able.

Therefore, if the social network hypothesis of intelligence is correct, over time the relative ease of our lives and technology which allows us to expand our social networks may ultimately make our species significantly more intelligent.

In other words, Facebook might be making us smarter.
#69
This shit is FUCKING FUNNY. https://twitter.com/KimKierkegaard

#70
Aneristic Illusions / Fuck you, bitch
September 06, 2014, 04:14:05 AM
I don't know if this really belongs in this sub, but it ties into some topics we've discussed here at length, and I thought the last sentence was particularly keen. I think it also stood out for me because earlier this week, a woman on Facebook went apeshit at me because I didn't think she was funny, and busted out "nigger bitch" and references to lynching a dozen or so times.

Thought I'd share here, because you guys are pretty fucking smart and I wondered what your take on it is.

http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2013-07-what-youre-really-saying-when-you-call-me-a-bitch

QuoteI'm on an arbitrary crosswalk on an arbitrary Sunday in Chicago when it happens. He's in his early 40′s, nicely dressed. As we head in opposite directions, elbows almost bumping, he leans into my space, face inches from mine and hisses, "Fuck you, bitch." He keeps walking, and I stop dead in the middle of the street, hoping someone else just saw that.

It's the "bitch" that kept swinging through the revolving door in my brain as I walked the half mile home. Why did he call me that? I didn't do anything to him, I didn't say anything to him, I didn't even look at him. Was I supposed to smile? A random "fuck you" might just be the standard cost of living in a large city where you encounter the occasional unstable citizen, but the "bitch" added insult to injury.
#71
I thought this could be a place where we have our geeky school-related conversations.

Related: I got all my books for school.



Two classes for my bio major, one class for my psych major, and one class for both.
#72
Or Kill Me / Dispelling a few myths
July 13, 2014, 08:46:06 AM
I'd really like to post this on Facebook, but that would be undiplomatic so I'll post it here instead.

1. I'm not underestimating myself. My worries about my ability to tackle a challenge to my own standards are based in a realistic assessment of the degree of difficulty of the challenge, my own abilities, and the other demands of my day-to-day life. If I'm worried about being able to pull off a task I've set for myself, it's because it's fucking hard.

2. Related to #1, I do not suffer from impostor syndrome. Bitch, please. I can't even. What are you talking about. However, I do frequently push the limits of my capabilities, because how the fuck else would I improve myself?

3. I don't have a poor body image. The fact that I'm aware that I'm 20 pounds overweight, far from Barbie-Doll looks, and not as pretty as I was when I was 25 doesn't mean I'm somehow unaware that I'm nonetheless blessed in the aesthetic department.

4. I don't give any fucks if you disagree. In fact, I secretly think you're just saying that because of your own insecurities. I won't try to appearance-shame you back, though, because I'm better than that. I also don't think that being fuckable is the best thing I have to offer the world, and it's not the best thing you have to offer the world, either. Even if you are kind of an idiot.

5. Which brings me to my last point, which is that if you are trying to exploit some kind of perceived weakness in my self-image regarding my competency or appearance, you're not only an asshole, you're an idiot. I'll probably forgive you, though, because stupid people are worthy of compassion and my one real, vulnerable insecurity is the fear that I am insufficiently compassionate.

I'm working on that, though.
#73
It seemed to me that we could really use a thread like this. I'll go first:

Me: My housemate says his pants fell down at the gas station while he was holding a bottle of beer and a bottle of wine.
BF: Oh I like him already.
Me: Now he's in the kitchen with his guitar singing a song about sausages.
#75
Techmology and Scientism / CAIN CAIN CAIN CAIN CAIN
June 23, 2014, 11:47:07 PM
I can't remember if I posted a link to the Coursera class I'm taking because apparently I decided that my academic load wasn't challenging enough. But anyway, I started it, and I immediately thought "OH SHIT, CAIN WOULD LOVE THIS!"

I know you're way the fuck too busy to check it out this summer, but I thought I'd post the link in case you want to look at it in the future.

https://www.coursera.org/course/neuroec
#76
Techmology and Scientism / Run for your brain
June 16, 2014, 08:30:35 PM
Hey Pent, you in particular might like this: http://www.ctoradio.org/episode/2014-04-01

I'm trying to get into this guy's lab next summer, because he's awesome.
#77
While trolling the PSU website for pictures of my professors to make sure I haven't accidentally made out with any of them, I ran into this very interesting piece of recent research:

http://otrec.us/news/entry/study_examines_racial_bias_at_crosswalks

QuoteIn a pilot study funded by the NITC Small Starts program, researchers explored whether drivers behave differently toward pedestrians waiting to use a crosswalk based on the pedestrian's race. The study – the first examining the effects of race on pedestrian crossing experiences – found that black pedestrians were passed by twice as many cars and waited nearly a third longer to cross than white pedestrians.

Minorities are disproportionately represented among pedestrian fatalities in the United States. The Center for Disease Control reported in 2013 that in the first decade of this century, the fatality rates for black and Hispanic men were twice as high as they were for white men.

Researchers Kimberly Barsamian Kahn and Tara Goddard of Portland State University, and Arlie Adkins, of the University of Arizona, hypothesized that if minority pedestrians experience more delay at crosswalks, they might take greater risks when crossing – risks that could contribute to the disparate fatality rates.
#78
I don't know how I feel about Mark Manson, as generally speaking I don't think much of people who write for Thought Catalog and I feel like his social theory is still pretty undeveloped, but this was an interesting article: http://markmanson.net/school-shootings

QuoteIn 1998, a high school junior named Eric Harris from Colorado wanted to put on a performance, something for the world to remember him by. A little more than a year later, Eric and his best friend Dylan Klebold would place bombs all over their school — bombs large enough to collapse large chunks of the building and to kill the majority of the 2,000 students inside — and then wait outside with semi-automatic weapons to gun down any survivors before ending their own lives.

"It'll be like the LA riots, the Oklahoma bombing, WWII, Vietnam, Duke and Doom all mixed together," Eric wrote in his journal. "Maybe we will even start a little rebellion or revolution to fuck things up as much as we can. I want to leave a lasting impression on the world."

Eric was a psychopath, but he was also smart.

Reminded me of some thoughts I was having about bullying, and how in some cases it can be a warning sign that there is something amiss with the reported victim of the bullying.
#79
To be used when appropriate.

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on June 09, 2014, 08:59:43 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on June 09, 2014, 08:36:10 PM
Common TGRR aphorisms:

IT'S NOT MY FAULT!
It could have happened to anyone, really.
Nobody go in the kitchen for like 10 years, okay?
I'M OKAY WITH THAT! (about something that is clearly not okay)
Underwear is an indication that you aren't really serious about having a good time.
A hornet in the shorts is worth AAAAAAFUCKFUCKFUCK

Forgot:

Sorry, I didn't catch that, I was staring at your tits.  ---> Usually said to TGRRW to get out of trouble for the kitchen thing.
I already farted for you, what the hell do you WANT from me?
You People MAKE NO SENSE
SHUT UP
#80
Techmology and Scientism / CAINAD, HELP ME
June 09, 2014, 02:39:30 AM
WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN THIS QUIZ QUESTION?




This seems like too many categories.
#81
This is in a closed group, so I can't post screenshots unless I get un-lazy and assemble this into a single image and blur names.

But it's worth it to join the group to see it, I swear.

hxxps://www.facebook.com/groups/kittyshots/permalink/814313581914051/
#82
This isn't fucking Facebook. If you're going to post a link, especially a newslink, have the courtesy to at least post SOME kind of comment on it, and an excerpt.
#83
Today on the bus I was seated in front of a simple but charming young woman who was making conversation with her chaperone/coach, and I had the thought that retarded people really can be quite delightful.

Then I thought that it's interesting that we are taught compassion for those who fall below the 80 point line, but those who are just above it we treat with contempt, as though being stupid is a failure of merit, particularly if they break the rules.

Further, we aren't even supposed to acknowledge that such a thing is possible, as if everyone above that 80 point mark has equal inherent intellectual capacity. It's weird. "You are mentally retarded so we must be nice to you, but you, you're just stupid so we can totally make fun of you as cruelly as we wish". It doesn't make any fucking sense.   
#84
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / Pussy Shots
April 29, 2014, 06:55:27 AM
So like a year and a half ago I started a Facebook group based on a terrible OK Cupid profile. It's a group for posting pictures of cats. It sat there for a long while, and then a few weeks ago it just out of the blue started gaining members. I am bemused, and amused; it just topped 2000 members and seems to be picking up speed. I don't really have any idea what the fuck to do with this.
#85
Quote from: Regret on April 28, 2014, 08:50:33 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 28, 2014, 08:46:34 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 28, 2014, 04:25:43 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 28, 2014, 02:45:49 PM
Birthday.

I have a whole-weekend hangover.

Happy birthday, merry new hangover!

It's a piquant and lolling hangover. Luckily it doesn't come with any regrets (it almost did, but I pulled  my head out of my ass in the nick of time).
Baww :( I feel rejected now.

:lulz:

Sleeping with my best friend's husband's cousin might sound like a good idea after several whiskeys, but it's really not.

I'll come up with several small, mild regrets instead.
#86
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / Dear LMNO
April 13, 2014, 02:45:20 AM
I just wanted to remind you that anything is possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H3I85iUPbY
#88
I don't really have anything else to say.

http://imgur.com/gallery/K7C5X
#89
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / ROGER
March 11, 2014, 07:26:20 PM
WHY DID I BOTHER SPENDING ALL THAT TIME LEARNING TO MAKE BEAUTIFUL GLASS BEADS???

https://www.etsy.com/listing/122322915/8-felt-pebbles-rusty-brown-and-grey-felt?ref=related-3

Fuck me.
#91
Don't mind me, I'm just collecting links.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181941/
#93
I'm sure you've seen the creepy hand model lady interview. Here's even more with her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1VsmvG9HiU

So, if someone came to you and was like, "Hey, here's this job where you can make a lot of money without very much work, but the trade off is that YOU NEVER GET TO DO ANYTHING FUN EVER AGAIN", would you even consider it?
#94
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / THUG
March 05, 2014, 03:25:15 AM
I just today realized that I have an issue with the word "thug". Even though the lady who used it on my FB page tonight wasn't referring specifically to black people, and was in fact talking about insular, ignorant, and often poor/rural people, I totally just had that gut reaction that you get when people say "porch monkey" (though I have to confess, I was sheltered enough that I didn't know what that term meant until I was 18).

Now, FB lady is seriously one of the nicest people on earth. I mean, she would never, ever, EVER say the word "thug" in a way that intended any racial connotations. And she's older, so for her, if it DID have racial connotations, it would be way more appropriate for Dimo to be offended that me (that cultural context thing is something those Tumblr twits would do well to gain a grasp on). So there is no way I'm going to say anything to her about it, because it just wouldn't be appropriate. And, of course, the etymological origins lie far away from this continent, in India, so it certainly has nothing to do with the deep history of the word.

So I'm just here, ruminating, and wondering what it means that I have a gut reaction to this word, and whether it is at least partly because of a larger shift in the cultural context of the way it's used.

Thoughts?
#95
http://www.pressherald.com/news/Rep__Lawrence_Lockman_says_he_regrets_divisive_statements_.html

QuoteThe post by Maine People's Alliance activist Mike Tipping mined press clippings to unearth several offensive comments. In one, Lockman implied that HIV and AIDS could be spread by bed sheets and mosquitoes. In another, he said that the progressive movement assisted the AIDS epidemic by assuring "the public that the practice of sodomy is a legitimate alternative lifestyle, rather than a perverted and depraved crime against humanity." In a 1995 letter in the Sun Journal in Lewiston, a reader quoted a press statement by Lockman, then part of the Pro Life Education Association, saying, "If a woman has (the right to an abortion), why shouldn't a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist's pursuit of sexual freedom doesn't (in most cases) result in anyone's death."
#96
I have to watch and comment on three commercials for a homework assignment. I don't have tv reception, so the only time I ever see commercials is when I'm at a bar. I have no idea what's out there. Can you guys suggest commercials for me to comment on?
#97
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / OMG WOW
February 25, 2014, 07:40:12 PM
It's like Timecube Guy part II!

http://www.naturehack.com/
#99
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / ATTN: RICHTER
February 17, 2014, 01:58:14 AM
#100
So I am wondering if this is just a me thing, or if this is more of a universal thing: is anyone else experiencing a sort of "internet loneliness", where internet-based personal interactions seem to be decreasing?