Topics

Anyone hear about this?  It could end up influencing tribal rights, adoptive rights, and paternal rights.

http://www.examiner.com/article/baby-veronica-may-set-precedent-as-her-case-heads-for-u-s-supreme-court

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/28/justice/georgia-soldiers-plot/index.html

They're pretty clearly not Anarchists, they might be idiots, but on the other hand they might not.  I'm not surprised to see US soldiers planning this sort of thing to be honest.  They're coming back, trained to kill, having dealt with IED's and insurgents, having learned a lot about their tactics, to an unemployment rate that is even higher than the already unreasonable one suffered by the civilian population.  They're in many cases being mistreated by the government.  Angry people trained to kill, with few options, is bad news.

So in the sex Ed thread Cain posted this.

One of the most interesting areas of feminist thinking, to me, is how patriarchical societies constrain men as well as they do women, and I strongly suspect if there was a greater focus on this, it would get a lot of guys who might otherwise be not so interested in feminism thinking about how such things impact on them personally.

This is something that I think deserves its own thread.  I remember seeing some discussion of it in another thread and every time someone came up with a way that they felt men were constrained by society it was shot down as a myth.  This is absolutely not to deny the existence of male privilege, it is to examine the ways in which our current sexist society keeps men down, to open feminism up so  that it is easier to see that it is not just a movement for women.

One that I have noticed is the divide as far as being the breadwinner versus being the caretaker in a household.  Men are expected to be the breadwinner, women the caretaker, if the woman is the sole wage earner and her husband stays home to take care of the kids and house people view them both as aberrant and not ok.  This is not really an issue for the working class, usually, since both parents generally have to work just to keep the household afloat. 

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2012/08/dreger-fetal-engineering.html

well here's some shitty news.  Not only is it an extremely dubious idea if it only does what it is supposed to, it's also highly likely to increase the fetus' cancer risk.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/

The article is good, the comments are too.

Just in case anyone didn't know about this.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19955_we-want-to-pay-you-to-write-us.html

Cracked has an open submissions policy.  dunno if their compensation plan is any good or not but I know some of you guys could be pretty successful with them.

http://www.upworthy.com/burn-the-libraries-down-kidz-can-learned-stuff-on-there-oan?g=4&c=cp1


Reminds me of a few of the political facebook things.

So the republicans lately have been doing a lot to restrict the freedoms of women, mostly in the reproductive sphere. There have been severe restrictions on abortion put into place, including Arizona's rather odd law that makes women technically pregnant whenever they aren't menstruating. There have been the laws in Mississippi that have some women in prison for miscarrying, and there is the other Arizona law that allows an employer to terminate a woman for using contraception.

One of the stated reasons for these actions is to cut down on sexual promiscuity, however if this is actually the goal then the way in which it is being carried out is odd. The ideal form of birth control for someone who is sexually promiscuous is condoms. Condoms protect against STD's, something which women's contraception such as the pill and IUD's do not do. Condoms are also something that is used as needed and the promiscuous usually do not know exactly who they will be having sex with or when until fairly close to the actual occurence. For a single encounter condoms are far less expensive and less trouble than any other form of contraception.

Women's birth control is ideal in a monogamous relationship where a certain regularity of sexual activity is expected. A marriage is the most obvious example and many married women use contraception to prevent unexpected pregnancies so that they can ensure that when they have children they are financially prepared for it and that either they or their husbands will have time to raise the child.

What the republicans are attacking is not an aid to sexual promiscuity but an aid to financial and social stability for people involved in long term monogamous relationships, particularly those in the middle class. It is a war not only on women's freedoms but on the ability of men and women in the middle class to have any control of their economic and genetic destinies.
   

This is a pretty good dissection of the differing views on welfare held by anti-statists.  The quoted bit is from an article called "Neither State Nor Market: An Anarchist Perspective on Social Welfare" by Steve Millet that is not available online and basically sums up the Anarchist view on it (if anarchism is defined in the traditional, socialist way rather than anarcho capitalism)  the article is clearly written from a left-anarchist perspective but the libertarians are quoted in context and their perspective is, IMO fairly well enunciated.

http://propertyistheft.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/anarchist-communism-public-services-and-the-welfare-state/

    Any definition of society should include an ability to take care of the welfare of its members, not just those members who have a privileged place in the social hierarchy. Welfare should be an intrinsic part of any society, therefore, not simply a functional extra. This requires that society is organized first and foremost to provide welfare. What anarchism calls for is the re-absorption of the provision of welfare into the daily lives of the citizens of the community. Welfare thus becomes not simply a function—something provided by a system or the workers in a system—but part of the everyday life of the community and its citizens.

    ...

    The failure of the State to provide social welfare should not be seen as undermining the idea of social welfare itself, but of invalidating the role of the State; welfare is inextricably linked to empowerment, which is why State-provided welfare is always going to have minimal success. At the same time we should be under no illusions as to what the effects on the poor will be of the paring down of what State provision there is in the name of the market: without a viable alternative, the market simply means sink or swim, and to sink means poverty, destitution, homelessness, even death. The attempt to free welfare from the State cannot be left to the free marketeers of the Right. The need for a democratic and participatory alternative to the Welfare State has never been more urgent.

[REMOVED]

REMOVED

kick me.

You know you wanna.

Has anyone had the pleasure of Inver House's green plaid?  It claims to be "Very Rare" and considering that it can be found on the bottom shelf of most liquor stores in Pennsylvania and Ohio I suspect this means not extremely uncommon but, in fact, very undercooked.

The taste, well,  I'll start with the smell, a capful of green plaid does not smell like scotch, it smells, instead, rather like cheap tequila.  The taste certainly has tones of peat, but the whiskey itself is barely malty at all, almost as if one had soaked a few sprigs of peat in a vodka.

I haven't had the courage to drink more than a little at a time, nor have I experimented with mixing it as of yet.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/unexplained-shower-apples-falls-sky-over-town-221921738.html

Nicer than dead birds, but in some ways even weirder.

Not sure how much I trust Infowars, but apparently they have fairly strong evidence that the camps are being established and they are working on staffing them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4aQJqzIe8o&feature=share&fb_source=message

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678720/former-seasteaders-come-ashore-to-start-libertarian-utopias-in-honduran-jungle#disqus_thread

The seasteading folks are apparently coming ashore in Honduras.

I'm curious to see how they'll react when they get hit by a hurricane, or when Honduras decides that they do actually want taxes after all.

So what made you decide, after I'd been posting fairly regularly for several weeks, that a thread that I made looking for ideas for Christmas presents was where you needed to start shitting on me?

Something about the fact that I accept bitcoins makes me suddenly that much more worthy of your notice?

Or had you simply not been made aware of horrible perversions prior to this and someone brought it to your attention and you were incensed enough that you felt something needed to be done right away to let me know what an awful person you feel I am?

I'm not disputing my horribleness, although as Roger pointed out, I fantasize about snuff, not kids.  What I am wondering though is, why now?  Why that particular thread?  Why not the posts I've eben making in political threads, or talking about boats, or beer, or something else that is completely unrelated to sex?

Ooh, or maybe my post in Roger's dating advice thread where I suggested that Freeky socialize if she wants to meet someone?  That at least offers the possibility of asking me if I hang out at elementary schools (going with your mistaken idea that I am a pedo)  or if i do my socializing volunteering at a suicide hotline, or some other clever quip that would not only put me in my place as a degenerate, it'd make you look witty at the same time.

A post in the Occupy thread made me realize something.

There are a fair amount of talented crafters on this board.  The only one I know how to buy things from is Nigel but I remember that Suu and some others also craft.

I figured this thread could be a place to advertize your wares, so we'd have some idea of Christmas possibilities.

It also ties in with the idea of localizing Christmas, although there will still be money transfers and such (unless folks use bitcoins)

Personally I offer tarot card readings, $1 or .25 bitcoins per card by e-mail or per minute by phone or voice chat.  I don't expect anyone to give them as gifts,  just kicking the thread off.  I'm more interested in getting ideas of what other people have to offer.

So Ohio has two shitty issues on the ballot this year.  The one that most people are aware of is Issue 2, a bill that would take away the option of public employees to unionize (well, they can unionize but they can't strike)  The AFL-CIO has done a pretty good job of making people aware of how truly awful that is.

The other piece of garbage on the ballot, that probably will pass is Issue 3, which is couched in terminology that makes it look as if it exists purely to insure that Ohioans have a choice in health insurance.  I wasn't aware of it until I went to vote today.  The practical effect is to make any sort of socialized medicine in Ohio impossible and screw people who are unable to afford good health insurance but don't qualify for Medicaid.

http://gigaom.com/2011/10/27/looks-like-congress-has-declared-war-on-the-internet/

This one is designed to combat piracy rather than child porn.  Any bets on how long before it gets used to shut down sites used to organize protests?

Anyone seen this?

http://usdayofrage.org/

Apparently activists plan to occupy wall street and are using rhetoric referring to the Arab Spring.

The fact that I hadn't heard about it until the day before tells me I am not as plugged into the protest movement as I used to be, but the fact that i haven't seen it mentioned here suggests to me that it is not as big a deal as the organizers hope.

He saw it coming.  He knew there was no place for humanity anymore.  he was one of the first to go, the diggers, the steel driving men. It was always easiest to build artificial muscles and a brain just smart enough to make those muscles go.

John Henry knew it was best to go at that point, and he beat the machine, he dug right through that mountain and left it in the dust, and if he hadn't died in doing so the next machine would have been faster and the next faster still and eventually John would just have been some guy who beat one of those old machines that was such a joke now.

No, he saw it coming alright and he knew he needed to dig so hard and fast that he wouldn't live another day after he won.  He knew he couldn't stack up against machine after machine.  He knew how hard he could work too, someone has to after working hard his entire life, and I'm sure John could feel his body giving out, knew he couldn't give anymore and still live and that's why he gave more, he knew his time had passed.

The machines of muscle are everywhere now, and men are just spare parts.  And now the brains are getting better.  Of course you can't fight the machine brain to brain the way John Henry could muscle to muscle, instead it gets inside you, makes it so you help it go faster, and it pushes you faster and faster until your brain is as burnt out as John's body.  But you don't get to die like John Henry did, it's too late for that isn't it desk jockey?  It's part of you now, you're part of it, and there's nothing to do but go, faster and faster and faster.

Torpedoes?  Don't they need water to be torpedoes?  And be able to move?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_torpedo

http://www.fastcompany.com/1772215/game-of-civil-resistance-teaching-players-to-topple-dictators-redesigned-for-the-middle-east?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcompany%2Fheadlines+%28Fast+Company+Headlines%29&utm_content=FaceBook

Looks like a company has come out with a game to help people simulate revolution, apparently it includes a word builder to let players enter in their own societies as closely as they can manage.  Of course the information posessed by those on the ground is incomplete, but this seems like a really neat idea to me.

The man who brought us the BP disaster is busy in Minnesota

http://www.minnpost.com/donshelby/2011/07/26/30314/remember_bps_tony_hayward_hes_trying_to_get_his_life_back_in_northern_minnesota

http://diybio.org/

Pretty exciting stuff, these guys are putting biology in the hands of people the way that computers were back in the 70's.  I don't know where it is all heading, but I am pretty sure it is going to make a lot of differences in everyone's lives within 20 years or so.

Catholics win.

http://tithenai.tumblr.com/post/3215186237/two-churches-located-across-the-street-from-each-other

My Lesbian Catholic Priest Godmother posted this on facebook.

Unlike some it is SFW and will does not contain rape or violence.

It is still going to make your brain hurt and lower your opinion of humanity

http://www.youtube.com/v/3KT_89gi2Dk

Been drinking with my young tattooed friend.  The local bar is full of people who want to fight one another.

And no to anal, that's apparently off limits.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/bp_tax_break/index2.html?rc=fb_share2

I know it's a business expense, but really?  When we're in a budget crisis?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8433527/First-homosexual-caveman-found.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d9dcf807c873de3%2C0

Earliest evidence so far of societal recognition of queerness (can't think of a better word but that one tends to be used for both gay and trans)

http://ymarkov.livejournal.com/270570.html

I haven't read it yet but I am planning on it.  Seems like an interesting idea.

Is that Cancer Jesus in your avatar?

http://blog.au.org/2011/04/04/extreme-over-easter-afa-declares-war-on-ohio-town%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98spring-egg-hunt%E2%80%99/

I think this makes fun evidence of the vast pagan conspiracy when conversing with Jehovah's Witnesses.

AZ senator, she was a friend of a friend of mine which is the only reason I know this has happened.

This is the only link I have found so far.

http://www.mediaite.com/top-story/report-rep-gabrielle-giffords-shot-in-head-at-town-hall-in-arizona/

Anyone know why this happened?  Political motivations I assume.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/04/take-housing-fight-wealthy

I thought this looked like a rather radical approach,  he makes some good points but I can't imagine it going over well.

(1) They don't really, they believe what everyone else does with a few minor differences and just like using a neat word for it like Anarchism or Pagan or what have you.

(2) They have some delusions about either the nature of the universe or human nature.

(3)  They don't really, they just say they do so they can get laid by smelly hippies.

Just because I can, here's what's going on in my life.

I'm on welfare and putting in hours at the salvation army. There's too many people doing it which means there is not enough work for all of us and I spend most of my time chatting with the other welfare bums and staying out of the way of the people who are paid and actually have something to do because they trust them with paperwork and computers and such.  I've discovered that one of my co-workers is a member of the klu klux klan, and have already had a conversation in which I am pretty sure I was able to convince him that American Blacks are physically superior to American Whites (due to selective breeding during slavery)

I've written a novel over the course of NaNoWriMo that I am actually kind of proud of, that, so far, has a fairly good reception from people I never expected to like it.  It's sci fi snuff porn, and the people on the snuff forum I frequent have made not one comment, meanwhile my geek friends like it, and even the cheerleader I had a crush on in high school seems to.

My wife's movie deal is on delay again, I can't go into much detail there, but the amount of money that is possible has been reduced considerably, although it is still enough to move us from dirt poor to decidedly upper middle class. If anything does happen it will be in the spring.

The cyber girlfriend that I was broken up about before and I are still friends, there is a distinct possibility she is stringing me along as some sort of cruel woman game, but I am enjoying her friendship even if I keep getting confused by her hints that rekindling things is possible.  I've also struck something up with a lovely and very accomplished woman who lives in Tucson (yes, cyber again) who is very close with my wife.  If it weren't for the fact that she is very happily married to a man who would probably not be open to the idea of sharing her I'd be doing my best to seduce her into all sorts of activities involving she and I and my wife in as many permutations as possible,  I am working in seducing her into as many as I can get away with without feeling I am threatening her marriage.

My daughter is in Catholic school, which has made her decide she is definitely a pagan, she's struggling a bit with the idea that gods don't have to be good or bad, but can be both, and Eris is the main example I keep using.  She's also in choir, which is sort of the highpoint of my weeks currently, I volunteer as a sort of adult presence at choir practice and listening to children's fairly well trained voices in a church that has nearly perfect acoustics is a really wonderful experience every Wednesday.

OK, just as a thought experiment I'm designing an imaginary country in my head,  let me know what you think, or design your own.

Health care for treatment and prevention provided free of charge to all.  Doctors paid enough to make a living, but not a killing.

Education provided to all through high school, college for core professions (Doctor, Teacher, Engineer I am sure there are more, those are the three that spring to mind) provided for free with a vanishing loan, so as long as a graduate is employed in the field which he or she has a degree in no payment will be due and the loan amount will decrease significantly each year.  Degrees in nonessential areas, such as Philosophy, Business Management, or what have you could be supported with government backed loans, but repayment would be required and interest would be charged.  Admission to reverse loan programs based on the need for people in those professions within the country.

All drugs legalized but heavily taxed.

serious investment in public transportation at the expense of automobile centric transportation with a high tax on gasoline to compliment this.

direct democracy on as many government issues as possible with the remaining burden of legislation handled by legislators picked by lottery.

support the government through drug taxes, tourism, and by being a haven for research of all sorts, also perhaps a data haven for companies like pirate bay.

Just something that was rattling around in my brain for some reason.

nearly done.  If anyone is interested in reading it is here.

http://soiuser.hyperchat.com/nineveh/chaptone.html

It's scifi snuff porn, so if any part of that sounds distasteful, well, just don't say I didn't warn you.

I'm sure the writers of the show "Suite Life on Deck" and I got it from the same source (David Brin) but I was still a bit shocked to hear London Tipton (the brainless Heiress on the show) insisting that aliens are actually elves.  

Oh, and yes, I do know Brin suggested the idea Satirically, that doesn't mean I can't think it's true anyways.

Jealousy

I know you were never mine
But you would let me pretend
and say that you were
in any case, then
when you let someone inside
it made you feel bad.

I was happy to share
secure in what I had
even if I didn't.


Now that I have no right, I rage
I won't ask, the answer scares me
but of course, I assume the worst
Every man you talk to is he
Even if I know he's not.

Will you be my nemesis?

So, I am a professional tarot card reader, I know I am not the only one on the board.  I do reading on the phone, for a site that I am reasonably happy with, but that charges a price that I feel is higher than I wish to charge.  I recently discovered a way to get paid independently and want to start promoting myself for a lower price directly to Querents. 

I have done this before, in the past, at a different site that I read for, but it has been years and I don't know where the querents hang out.  I was considering Mystic Wicks (A place I know very little of) any other forums that might work for self promotion I'd greatly appreciate being pointed toward.

If any of the other readers do self promotion and would be willing to share some honey pots I'd be greatful.   If not, if folks can tell me forums where the "mystically inclined" are prone to gather I'd love it.   I was considering TCC, but the userbase is tiny, and I doubt they'd want their cards read by a troll.

PS, yes, I do believe in what I do.  I'm good at it and my predictions are fairly accurate.  More importantly, to me, my advice is grounded.  Somebody tells me she is sick, I tell her to go to the doctor.  If you can only morally justify card reading if the reader is intentionally trying to take advantage of the querent, well, to each their own, but that's not how I do it.  If the querent is deluded I am just as deluded and really do believe I am providing a real and valuable service.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/21/tea-party-website-4c.html

4 chan takes on the teaparty.

It's not, and don't you forget it.  Without the people on the front line, fighting oppression, risking their lives, the freedom they do have, injury and embarassment we would not have the liberties that we so often enjoy or take for granted.  People sacrificed for the rights and privileges you have, people are still sacrificing.  People have been sacrificing and putting themselves at risk since the birth of this country to keep our freedoms free.  And they've suffered, died, died in incredibly painful and drawn out ways.  They've hurt their friends and families because of the sacrifices they have been willing to make and the sacrifices they have been forced to make.  Try to remember that, next time you exercise your rights, and although it may not always be the best idea to thank them too publically, after all, their enemies are always out there watching, try to at least send a thought to the terrorists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFQwsP0xdz8

This fellow has set himself up as god of an ant colony.  I think his descriptions are just a tiny bit over the top, but still quite well done.

I don't know how to do it.

I am thinking it is Ho Chi Pill Eee but it could be a myriad of other things as well.  Anyone who is better than I at Aztec pronunciation want to weigh in?

Well, actually it's gelcaps, but same active ingredient.  DXM, not Pseudoephedrine.

I might be using the word inappropriately, since I'm not actually holding two contradictory ideas.  However today I received two pieces of news.  one is that my online girlfriend (yes, go ahead and laugh at me, it may help transform my grief into anger, which I enjoy much more) is breaking up with me.  The other is that my wife's deal (which admittedly I was hoping was going through today) is 99% sure of going through tomorrow.  This catapults us from unemployed broke white trash to upper middle class Hollywood types.

I am not happy or sad, I'm more numb, with occasional bursts of euphoria and misery.  I don't like it at all and am strongly considering a good strong dose of cough syrup to anasthetize me completely.

http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/pricey-landscaping

Apparently the latest thing to do is send free gifts of other people's products to famous people that suck.  I think this is kind of awesome.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/147901/could_a_legal_technicality_prevent_banks_from_having_the_right_to_foreclose_on_62_million_homes/

Personally I think this is really good news.  I'll be surprised if they don't end up changing this, but this squarely puts the losses for the housing bubble on the backs of the banks, who, through foreclosures, have been largely responsible for destroying multiple neighborhoods and nearly the whole city of Cleveland.