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I have discovered a fun new thing, inspired by Titus on Kimmy Schmidt.

1. Find a group full of young sprightly neckbeards
2. Wait for a thread in which someone mentions IQ
3. Talk about having a very high IQ
4. Argue that the IQ scale only goes to 100 and everyone who says they have an IQ over 100 is either lying or too dumb to understand how it works
5. Enjoy

Oh.

Oh, this is brilliant.

I feel like it does capture this moment of "Oh fuck is this really what's happening now?" as everything kinda goes sideways.

I like how in that last one he's all "now hold on just a sec..."

Can I spread this, Nigel?

Yes, absolutely. I also posted it on "It's Science, Stupid" (without the swears) if you want a Facebook-shareable version.

I have discovered a fun new thing, inspired by Titus on Kimmy Schmidt.

1. Find a group full of young sprightly neckbeards
2. Wait for a thread in which someone mentions IQ
3. Talk about having a very high IQ
4. Argue that the IQ scale only goes to 100 and everyone who says they have an IQ over 100 is either lying or too dumb to understand how it works
5. Enjoy

[The Mormon kingdom on Beaver Island]

I was just poking around being curious about Michigan, and found this fascinating tidbit of American history:

The Mormon kingdom on Beaver Island

Although Beaver Island is known mostly today for its beaches, forests, recreational harbor, and seclusion, at one time it was the site of a unique Mormon[1] kingdom.

The island's association with Mormonism began with the death of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Most Latter Day Saints considered Brigham Young to be Smith's successor, but many others followed James J. Strang. Strang founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite), claiming it to be the sole legitimate continuation of the church restored by Joseph Smith. His organization still exists today (though not on Beaver Island), numbering up to 300 adherents.[2] His group initially settled in Voree, Wisconsin, setting up a community there which remains to this day.

Seeking a buffer from persecution, Strang moved his followers to Beaver Island in 1848. The Strangites flourished under Strang's leadership and became a political power in the region. They founded the town of St. James (named after Strang), and built a road called "King's Highway" into the island's interior that remains one of its main thoroughfares. The Strangites cleared land, built cabins, farms, and other improvements, and sought to establish themselves as a permanent presence on Beaver Island.

I recommend reading on, it gets weirder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_Island_(Lake_Michigan)

This paper was the stupidest "research" paper I've ever read. I read a pop article about it and was like, this article must be misrepresenting the research in some way, it can't possibly be as terrible as it sounds. But no; it is. It's really, really, incredibly bad research. Fucking evolutionary psychologists are at it again.

Also, BRB renaming my porm folder.

I was going to say something about Minnesota being so wholesome, and then I realized. Perverts!

I suppose this belongs in the rants sub. But whatever.

PEEVE OF THE MOMENT: When people try to justify using the word "female" instead of "woman" by claiming that scientists use it this way. No we fucking don't. "Female" is an adjective, so the only time it can be used in substitution for a noun is when the noun has been immediately prior defined as having two or more modifiers, ie. "male and female snakes were hibernated for 12 weeks. After hibernation, females showed a higher rate of...". The same is true for other adjectives, such as pink and king in the context of salmon. Do you think a paper that spoke of "pinks" without ever defining WHAT THEY ARE would pass peer review? Well here's a hint: it wouldn't. Likewise with "females". The reviewers would not recommend it for publication because it doesn't define its model organism. So just stop trying to justify using "females" to refer to women using your ignorance as an argument, for fuck sake.

Turns out all my ranting here on PD has resulted in many transferable skills. I am getting an A in Public Speaking, that's for sure. Rants and speeches are, in many ways, very similar. And I always envision myself at the pulpit when I get a hot one.

Also, just reasoning in general. It's very helpful in school. Today my group is presenting logical fallacies to my public speaking class. Before I came here I had no idea about them.

So, thanks for the A, y'all.

It is kind of INCREDIBLY nice to discover that all that time spent hammering out ideas and arguing about them online turns out to be an actually valuable useful skill that people pay tons of money to spend years learning how to do.

If you dislike Charging Bull, get a load of this other pile of bull he did in his pursuit of depositing large steaming odes to capitalism all over the world:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bund_Bull

Yeah, with the bull, the motion is there and the face would look cool on a teeshirt or an american football helmet I guess but for someone who's been doing fuck all but staring at muscle and bone for the last six months of my life it's hard to see past the wrong. Pug guy, tho, if that wanker is making bank then maybe there's hope for me yet 

I STRONGLY suspect that Arturo di Modica was extremely wealthy before becoming an artist. http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-bull-artist-settles-tax-evasion-2014-1

Oh yeah. I have run into so many liberals and progressives here who only avoid association with any standard redneck conservative because they don't actively hate other races and/or are gay.

That's about it. They're still racist AF, and prejudiced toward anyone who isn't like them, more or less. Those with comfortable lives are basically worthless sacks of meat.

While doing foot massage in one of the fancier areas of town, I encountered so many liberal-on-paper people working for Nike. They eat gluten free, they vote Democrat, and a lot of them are feminists. A lot of them can't see past their own noses.

These are the type of liberals who will argue all day that racist shit they personally enjoy is not really racist, and are eager to point out all the ways feminists are doin it rong. The ones who are all "Your attitude is alienating your allies!" if you point out anything that makes them at all uncomfortable or challenges their behavior. They also tend to have weird double standards about who "should be" entitled to government support that skirt around issues of racism without ever flat out saying that they don't think black people in ghettoes should be able to get welfare. You could call then "LINOs" I guess, but I think the reality is that they are people who have clued into the fact that things SHOULD be better than they are, but haven't quite done the work to shake off the racist, misogynistic, Calvinist indoctrination of mainstream culture, and are a little too privileged to care enough to do so.