The Refuge of the Toads

#42481

free thoughtpolice wrote:Camp Quest?

Has anyone seen Richard Carrier recently? He's been kind of quite. /jk

#42482

CaptainFluffyBunny wrote:
ConcentratedH2O, OM wrote:Auburn, WA.
http://i.imgur.com/5ezjS6u.jpg
Weird. My daughter went to school with her for a couple of years. We used to live near where she was seen last. A bit grim, actually.

Well given that she was last associated with a pixlated man on the internet, probably not a bad time to discuss how not everyone on the internet is who they say they are (she knows to some degree), and what cat fishing is. This will probably help put those issues into context.

#42483

CaptainFluffyBunny wrote:
Service Dog wrote:Hoppy birthday, Captain.
Thanks, Service Dog. Hoping somebody gets me your memoirs for the next one.

Dear diary,

This won't make the 'memoir' cut, but...

Today I moved nearly-everything I own, from ministorage, into a small basement apartment.

It fit in a couple minivan trips. The apartment is a big deal, for me.

In the new place, my former housemates + baby are now my upstairs neighbors.

But I have my own entrance, bedroom, livingroom with kitchenette, bathroom. Shared laundry room, yard.

The ceiling is just a few inches taller than me. There are windows, but they're small & the view is mostly car wheels in the driveway.

The place is an improvement over living in the minivan. It's an improvement over the 5x7 room I rented most of this year... but the little room felt like 'home'. The new place's damp basement air & humble fixtures remind me of a first college apartment-- in a way that makes my heart sink. It feels like I've been allowed to accumulate nothing in my adult life & am back to milk crate furniture, lack of productive momentum, & social isolation-- like an aimless transfer student.

The housemates are sleeping in their new place tonight, on an air mattress. They're painting before they move their belongings. So dog & I have the old place to ourselves. I came back here/ because I want to start off on the right foot, there. From Day 1, establish a healthy routine: sleep schedule, walking the dog early, exercise & eating right, keep everything tidy, be productive.

I've started listening to Tim Ferriss's podcast. He wrote 'The 4-hour Work Week', which I haven't read. At its best, Ferriss interviews high-achievers to learn from their success-- episode #173 is a good introduction-- a biochemist/mathematician/chef/glider pilot/author/tech-startup founder. At its worst, the podcast is giddy self-help vapidity. But it's impressing on me that I have more power than I realize to improve life-outcomes/ even when there's so much I can't control.

Another reason I returned to the old apartment, was to try to watch my recent local talk show appearance. But I couldn't get the channel on the housemates' cable. I saw only a two minute clip. It wasn't a disgrace. Might even be pretty good. But my glasses were crooked, hawaiian shirt was rumpled like an overworked cop in an 80's tv show, ripped-knee in my jeans looked (and was) too authentic to be fashionable, and I was manspreading so much-- my nuts deserve top billing. Time to adjust how I present myself.

Money's going to be tight, at first. This month's rent & cellphone is paid. I may not have enough saved to cover next month. Fashion Week is coming up-- I can probably get on a set-building crew. If not, I'll sell the minivan, to last another month.

The bar on the corner looks inviting, to meet people. I want to start dating again, but that burns money. And the apartment is currently a grim sight, to show a stranger. Minivan bench seats as couches. 2 lawn chairs. Singlewide foam mattress, on the floor. And a haphazard set of whatever my ex didn't take, when she left me: Heinlein books from childhood, Love & Rockets comics, family photos. I know she really shorted me on shared possessions, but after 2 years of ministorage-- I can't really recall what's not-there, now. What furniture did we own together? What art? Fortunately, I got the dog.

My real birthday gift, dear captain, is to recommend a podcast called The Table Round. Part of my new routine will be to end days by consuming fiction, to stop night-time worrying & encourage a storytime dream state. The Table Round is high-production-value full-cast audiodrama, telling Arthurian Legends.

good nite!

#42484

deLurch wrote:
CaptainFluffyBunny wrote:
ConcentratedH2O, OM wrote:Auburn, WA.
http://i.imgur.com/5ezjS6u.jpg
Weird. My daughter went to school with her for a couple of years. We used to live near where she was seen last. A bit grim, actually.
Well given that she was last associated with a pixlated man on the internet, probably not a bad time to discuss how not everyone on the internet is who they say they are (she knows to some degree), and what cat fishing is. This will probably help put those issues into context.

My daughters are no worry. They're knowledgeable about all kinds of issues, and the eldest is going for her black belt. She's also become misanthropic, cynical and disillusioned. You want to avoid your kids from becoming SJWs? Have them attend public schools where there are disadvantaged POC. Then the challenge is to avoid them becoming racists or total misanthropes. /end rant

#42485

gurugeorge wrote:
jimhabegger wrote:We've watched all the Cheyenne episodes we could find on Youtube, and now we've started watching 77 Sunset Strip. For once we were able to find the first episode of the first season.
I've been watching Columbo a lot recently, it's like an oasis of sanity in a mad world.

Just a little trivia, Season 1 Episode 1 of Columbo was directed by a 25 year old Steven Spielberg.

#42486

Ok, now I understand the interest in Elyse as a case-study.

Thanks.

#42487

Service Dog wrote:The place is an improvement over living in the minivan. It's an improvement over the 5x7 room I rented most of this year... but the little room felt like 'home'. The new place's damp basement air & humble fixtures remind me of a first college apartment-- in a way that makes my heart sink. It feels like I've been allowed to accumulate nothing in my adult life & am back to milk crate furniture, lack of productive momentum, & social isolation-- like an aimless transfer student.

The housemates are sleeping in their new place tonight, on an air mattress. They're painting before they move their belongings. So dog & I have the old place to ourselves. I came back here/ because I want to start off on the right foot, there. From Day 1, establish a healthy routine: sleep schedule, walking the dog early, exercise & eating right, keep everything tidy, be productive.

I've started listening to Tim Ferriss's podcast. He wrote 'The 4-hour Work Week', which I haven't read. At its best, Ferriss interviews high-achievers to learn from their success-- episode #173 is a good introduction-- a biochemist/mathematician/chef/glider pilot/author/tech-startup founder. At its worst, the podcast is giddy self-help vapidity. But it's impressing on me that I have more power than I realize to improve life-outcomes/ even when there's so much I can't control.

Another reason I returned to the old apartment, was to try to watch my recent local talk show appearance. But I couldn't get the channel on the housemates' cable. I saw only a two minute clip. It wasn't a disgrace. Might even be pretty good. But my glasses were crooked, hawaiian shirt was rumpled like an overworked cop in an 80's tv show, ripped-knee in my jeans looked (and was) too authentic to be fashionable, and I was manspreading so much-- my nuts deserve top billing. Time to adjust how I present myself.

Money's going to be tight, at first. This month's rent & cellphone is paid. I may not have enough saved to cover next month. Fashion Week is coming up-- I can probably get on a set-building crew. If not, I'll sell the minivan, to last another month.

The bar on the corner looks inviting, to meet people. I want to start dating again, but that burns money. And the apartment is currently a grim sight, to show a stranger. Minivan bench seats as couches. 2 lawn chairs. Singlewide foam mattress, on the floor.

Hey, you have made progress. So stop kicking around about what you had and be happy that you are better off today than you were yesterday. Big changes don't happen all at once. It is a series of smaller steps.

So you are bemoaning the lack of material possessions. But you kind of strike me as the kind of guy who values life's experiences more than accumulating material goods. Is that a decent assessment? If it is, then be happy with that choice.

As far as the presentation of your apartment goes, you are an artist, so you will get a lot more leeway in terms of what you do. Lawn chairs & a mini-van couch can work so long as it appears intentional. Don't do this all now, while you don't have enough scratch to make next month's rent, but when you get a little cash, rework your apartment on the cheap to make it into more of a presentation, while doing things like keeping the law chairs & minivan couch. Maybe throw in some cheap fake grass around the lawn chairs, outdoor umbrella, led based tiki torches, accent pieces of a croquet set. You get the idea. You are an artist. Use what you can find cheap and turn it into a project. The key thing is to keep it clean, presentable & intentional.

Throw up some fuzzy dice near the van couch, maybe an accent shag carpet. Perhaps 70's theme. Tye-dye shirt hanging from the way.

Hell, the minimalist lifestyle has taken off and works. Since you are already working on that budget, you could consider keeping it that way. Same rules apply. Neat. Clean. Simple and presentable. But in your shoes, I would take the artist route to presentation.

So what do you want out of life? Big long term goals?

If you don't have those, there is nothing wrong with being happy with taking advantage of the opportunities that life presents to you going Gump style.

If you want material possessions, you could always shoot straight for an 8-5 job. There is something to be said about a structured lifestyle that really works for certain people like my sister. Zero self motivation to get things done. But once you put her in a full time job, she flourishes and excels.

If you are going to continue the self-employment freelancer route, you are going to have to start taking notes from the people who are doing that successfully. They treat it as a business.

I have a friend who is a musician. Married. Two houses (one he rents out). He put a lot of sweat equity into those houses. He is in multiple bands. Does weddings. Corporate events. Music in the Park events. Teaching students on the side. He is always on the hunt for new gigs, and tapping into established networks & relationships for new work. He works his ass off. And getting the work takes more time & effort than the actual gigs themselves.

My brother, due to a nice severance package & bonus package to encourage him not to work for the competitors, Opted to start working for himself trading on the stock market. Not that far off from his original set of expertise. But he doesn't slack off of this either. He has his office hours. He manages risks. Keeps up on the daily financial news. Hell he even does full corporate form quarterly reports for himself to track his performance. But again, he is treating his self-employment as a business.

Clearly you need more chicken-scratch. Time to start treating your freelancing as more of a business. Have set "office" hours when you are not currently hired out on a gig. Come up with plans on how to obtain work and earn money. Break them down into small step-by-step easy bite size increments, and start following through. Hell, start doing monthly reports on your performance. Formalize on electronic paper what your work connections are. What your business opportunities are. What is the most likely & most profitable and start following up.

/end-talking-out-my-ass

#42488

CaptainFluffyBunny wrote:[
My daughters are no worry. They're knowledgeable about all kinds of issues, and the eldest is going for her black belt. She's also become misanthropic, cynical and disillusioned.

[youtube]l8o5fxnDUjs[/youtube]

#42489

Re: missing person known to CaptainFluffyBunny & family

Edit 3: GOOD NEWS!!!! Lizzie has been found by the Ocean Shores PD! We've been steadily finding out more and more about this guy over the past hour and a half. Her kidnapper is at least 18 years old. But the good thing is she has been rescued. Thank you so much to everyone that has helped.

#42490

Skep tickle wrote:Re: missing person known to CaptainFluffyBunny & family

Edit 3: GOOD NEWS!!!! Lizzie has been found by the Ocean Shores PD! We've been steadily finding out more and more about this guy over the past hour and a half. Her kidnapper is at least 18 years old. But the good thing is she has been rescued. Thank you so much to everyone that has helped.

Finally some good news. Thanks for that.

#42491

paddybrown wrote:Every time someone here mentions an odd interest they have, half the Pit chimes in saying they're interested in it too. So: anybody into tracing their family history?

Yep. One parent was born in Central Europe, the other's from a long line of New Englanders who left Britain in the 1620's (presumably for religious reasons), left Massachusetts Bay Colony (perhaps not voluntarily, presumably for religious reasons), were among the original European inhabitants of Rhode Island in 1636-1637, spread out in New England and became Friends (Quaker) in the mid- to late 1600's, and which include some educators, inventors, & abolitionists in the 18th & 19th centuries.

In tracking the lines back, I find the clues to the difficulties of life in those times to be fascinating, including how prevalent hardship & death were. Obviously everyone's direct ancestors lived long enough to reproduce, but it was common to have many children, & for many of them to die, & for women in particular to die relatively young (related to pregnancy/childbirth), & for people to travel pretty amazing distances in pretty amazing circumstances in their lives. And all without trigger warnings, can you imagine that.

#42492

ARGH I fell asleep is everything over?

#42493

rayshul wrote:ARGH I fell asleep is everything over?

I think at this time the Yankees are fast asleep.

#42494

If it was more of a general question: no, not everything is over. The sun still rises in the east.

#42495

Phil_Giordana_FCD wrote:
rayshul wrote:ARGH I fell asleep is everything over?
I think at this time the Yankees are fast asleep.

Seems unlikely that com would consider himself a Yankee (in the US sense of the term).

But he is likely to be asleep, it's nearly 5am in today-land where he lives. :)

#42496

... Her kidnapper is at least 18 years old ...

I'm glad she's safe and well of course.

I can't help noticing how the possessive is used as in " My Abuser ... ", " My Harasser ... " etc. It's as if a claim is being made that the offending creature now belongs to the 'Victim' for life. The owner can now boast about the various characteristics of "their" offender, the more horrible the better, the more 'privileged' the better confers status within the group.

It's the SJW version of Pokémon !

#42497

Well fuck and arseholes.

#42498

jimhabegger wrote:We watched Columbo a lot, many years ago, and I keep thinking I might like to watch it again, but when I think of specific episodes that I remember, I'm not sure I would enjoy watching them again. If we run out of shows to watch on YouTube, we might go back to one of the Star Trek series. We really liked Deep Space Nine, but in later seasons it started getting too dark for me.

I'd say DS9 started off a bit bland but got all the more interesting as it drew parallels between the Cardassian occupation and the Nazi one. And the nerve-wrecking power play of the Dominion.

#42499

Brive1987 wrote:PZ went to the movies. And guess what. He found the movie terrible. Quelle surprise.

This time Tarzan is the target.

Why? Well when he was a kid PZ read the originals and then became enlightened and realised he had been tricked by racist rants.

I could find them entertaining as an oblivious white kid, but once you grow up, you have to wake up to the context. And the context is intolerable.
Fair enough. Problem is he accepts none of this is in the movie. In fact Tarzan goes to bat for the darkies against the colonial oppressors.

Problem is he is still white.

http://web.archive.org/web/201607270857 ... es-please/

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/1u4AAOSwO ... s-l300.jpg

PZ wrote:They advertised the movie with that poster, showing the lovely tall Aryan couple surrounded by gorillas, and don’t seem to have considered the optics of the image at all.

Those aren't gorillas, they're Mangani. :snooty:

What's he hinting at anyway? It's bad form to show white people surrounded by apes because... he associates apes with POC, or what?

I guess this is some Leni Riefenstahl style propaganda then:
http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/adv ... dall-1.jpg

#42500

CommanderTuvok wrote:She's got Social Justice Warrior written all over her. Wouldn't surprise me if she has Pharyngula bookmarked. Fucking psychopath.

Also, she's 14 and her life is over. Her classmates will be going to the Proms and college in a couple of years; but not Kali Bookey.

Whatever is wrong with her, this is tragical and not only for the victim.

#42501

jimhabegger wrote:
comhcinc wrote:Jim I am not going to skype with just you.

Ever.
Understood. Maybe with Rayshul, in two hoursish?

Rayshul and two houris?

#42502

windy wrote:(img]http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/1u4AAOSwO ... s-l300.jpg[/img]

PZ wrote:They advertised the movie with that poster, showing the lovely tall Aryan couple surrounded by gorillas, and don’t seem to have considered the optics of the image at all.
Those aren't gorillas, they're Mangani. :snooty:

Are they a mutation of Manginas?

windy wrote:What's he hinting at anyway? It's bad form to show white people surrounded by apes because... he associates apes with POC, or what?

I guess this is some Leni Riefenstahl style propaganda then:
http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/adv ... dall-1.jpg

White male bad (if more attractive than Peasy), everyone else and every animal good.

#42503

Windy wrote: What's he hinting at anyway? It's bad form to show white people surrounded by apes because... he associates apes with POC, or what?

Yes, that's pretty much the gist of it. Most SJW bullshit is nothing more than projection. But we've pointed that out many times before.

#42504

ConcentratedH2O, OM wrote:
free thoughtpolice wrote:Camp Quest?
Saw it on Imgur, noticed the t-shirt.

I'm just off to buy a few tons of popping corn kernels for when Tuvok sees it...

Right! I advise the police immediately ask Richard Carrier about his whereabouts on the 27th!

:popcorn:

#42505

feathers wrote:
CommanderTuvok wrote:She's got Social Justice Warrior written all over her. Wouldn't surprise me if she has Pharyngula bookmarked. Fucking psychopath.
Also, she's 14 and her life is over. Her classmates will be going to the Proms and college in a couple of years; but not Kali Bookey.

Whatever is wrong with her, this is tragical and not only for the victim.

I realise that. It is tragic that people go all SJW. Teenagers dabbling in SJWism end up broken, like Kali. I always have sympathy for children who are brainwashed into SJWism. No excuses for older people, though.

Anyway, let me get serious for a moment about that missing person case..........WHERE was Richard Carrier on the 27th July???????

#42506

Just a thought.....has anybody blamed video games for Kali's behaviour?

Another thought....has any prominent SJW gave a negative review of Ghostbusters? Or simply stated it was distinctly average.

#42507

windy wrote: http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/adv ... dall-1.jpg

#42508

feathers wrote:
CommanderTuvok wrote:She's got Social Justice Warrior written all over her. Wouldn't surprise me if she has Pharyngula bookmarked. Fucking psychopath.
Also, she's 14 and her life is over. Her classmates will be going to the Proms and college in a couple of years; but not Kali Bookey.
Whatever is wrong with her, this is tragical and not only for the victim.

I can't really grieve for her lost future life. Whatever the fuck is wrong with her would have continued with her even if she had not attempted to kill that girl.

On the SJW side, while yes, SJWs tend to be rather selfish, they tend to cover their selfish tendencies under the guise of altruistic political motives. This girl is flat out telling people that he is a psychopath and wanted to kill, and kill more, and she selected the girlfriend as her first victim because she hated that the girlfriend made her older brother happy.

There is no pretense of any good, moral higher authority here.

#42509

feathers wrote:
CommanderTuvok wrote:She's got Social Justice Warrior written all over her. Wouldn't surprise me if she has Pharyngula bookmarked. Fucking psychopath.
Also, she's 14 and her life is over. Her classmates will be going to the Proms and college in a couple of years; but not Kali Bookey.

Whatever is wrong with her, this is tragical and not only for the victim.

Are you kidding? In a couple years, after she gets paroled from juvenile hall, she have her own reality TV show ("Girlfriend Killer") and be worth 20 million.

#42510

Phil_Giordana_FCD wrote:If it was more of a general question: no, not everything is over. The sun still rises in the east.

No, currently in the north.

#42511

In all seriousness, she's not qualified to self-diagnose as psychopath. Maybe yes, maybe no. She reminds me of other early teens who do horrific killings (or attempts), like the kid who imitated Leonardo Depaprio (intentional misspelling) in one movie or another and killed his mother and father. Life isn't real to these kids. Somehow the seriousness of life and death hasn't registered. I'm not sure if they're salvageable. It's tempting to consider them demon spawn.

For a very good fictional account of this, see "We need to talk about Kevin" with Tilda Swinton. Very good movie, and very haunting.

#42512

feathers wrote:
jimhabegger wrote:We watched Columbo a lot, many years ago, and I keep thinking I might like to watch it again, but when I think of specific episodes that I remember, I'm not sure I would enjoy watching them again. If we run out of shows to watch on YouTube, we might go back to one of the Star Trek series. We really liked Deep Space Nine, but in later seasons it started getting too dark for me.
I'd say DS9 started off a bit bland but got all the more interesting as it drew parallels between the Cardassian occupation and the Nazi one. And the nerve-wrecking power play of the Dominion.

It was when it started to be all about the Dominion that I lost interest.

#42513

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... aysun1.jpg

#42514

Hunt wrote:For a very good fictional account of this, see "We need to talk about Kevin" with Tilda Swinton. Very good movie, and very haunting.

And there's the Heavenly Creatures from back when Peter Jackson wasn't a bore.

#42515

Eskarina wrote:
windy wrote: Those aren't gorillas, they're Mangani. :snooty:
Are they a mutation of Manginas?

:lol:

Tarzan of the Manginas: a white male dudebro lost in the SJW jungle and raised by a group of male feminists?

#42516

CommanderTuvok wrote:Just a thought.....has anybody blamed video games for Kali's behaviour?

Well her talk about being a "psychopath" and "first kill" touches on the TV show Dexter. But if she was a fan of the show, you would think she would have gone into a lot more though about DNA than a pair of rubber gloves and calling the police into the scene of the crime as herself. Perhaps she saw a movie or similar TV show, or was involved in some discussion board. She picked up that language somewhere. Then again her raw interest in killing may have draw her into such media or discussion boards in the first place.

#42517

feathers wrote:
Hunt wrote:For a very good fictional account of this, see "We need to talk about Kevin" with Tilda Swinton. Very good movie, and very haunting.
And there's the Heavenly Creatures from back when Peter Jackson wasn't a bore.

If the genre (if call it that) has an original, it's Hitchcock's Rope, about the Leopold and Loeb murder. They were somewhat older than the bizarre phenomenon of early teen murder, but surely it's got to be one of the strangest cases: murder as intellectual challenge.

#42518

Hunt wrote:In all seriousness, she's not qualified to self-diagnose as psychopath. Maybe yes, maybe no. She reminds me of other early teens who do horrific killings (or attempts), like the kid who imitated Leonardo Depaprio (intentional misspelling) in one movie or another and killed his mother and father. Life isn't real to these kids. Somehow the seriousness of life and death hasn't registered. I'm not sure if they're salvageable. It's tempting to consider them demon spawn.

For a very good fictional account of this, see "We need to talk about Kevin" with Tilda Swinton. Very good movie, and very haunting.

I always think of it in terms of bell curves. As a rule of thumb, for any given human trait, some have it a lot, most have it some, and a few have little to none. Empathy is one of them.

Another interesting case is the Christian who does very precise text-based takedowns of Islam on Youtube - Acts17Apologetics. As a young man he tried to kill his dad as (what he felt to be) an expression of his atheism and nihilism. Fortunately his dad survived, he got jailed, and eventually converted to Christianity, which he finds to be a strong barrier against his psychopathic tendencies - since he finds enough reasonable argument (now) to believe in God, and he believes morality is a command from God, he behaves morally. We can all wipe the sweat from our brows.

But actually, everything he tells us about that period of his life just says that he has no native sense of empathy. He had to install one from Christianity.

But these are outliers on the human spectrum.

#42519

Religion as a protective measure to make humans... civilised.

I have had a weird feeling about this since encountering SJWs.

#42520

gurugeorge wrote:
Hunt wrote:In all seriousness, she's not qualified to self-diagnose as psychopath. Maybe yes, maybe no. She reminds me of other early teens who do horrific killings (or attempts), like the kid who imitated Leonardo Depaprio (intentional misspelling) in one movie or another and killed his mother and father. Life isn't real to these kids. Somehow the seriousness of life and death hasn't registered. I'm not sure if they're salvageable. It's tempting to consider them demon spawn.

For a very good fictional account of this, see "We need to talk about Kevin" with Tilda Swinton. Very good movie, and very haunting.
I always think of it in terms of bell curves. As a rule of thumb, for any given human trait, some have it a lot, most have it some, and a few have little to none. Empathy is one of them.

Another interesting case is the Christian who does very precise text-based takedowns of Islam on Youtube - Acts17Apologetics. As a young man he tried to kill his dad as (what he felt to be) an expression of his atheism and nihilism. Fortunately his dad survived, he got jailed, and eventually converted to Christianity, which he finds to be a strong barrier against his psychopathic tendencies - since he finds enough reasonable argument (now) to believe in God, and he believes morality is a command from God, he behaves morally. We can all wipe the sweat from our brows.

But actually, everything he tells us about that period of his life just says that he has no native sense of empathy. He had to install one from Christianity.

But these are outliers on the human spectrum.

That's exactly the argument I used on Vox Day, when I was still in the mood to bitch with him. He always delighted in saying atheists are prone to Asperger's, just to turn the knife in the wound. So, I simply made up the bullshit theory that Christians are really psychopaths leaning on religion to make them socially acceptable. Well, on his alt-right Christian forum, that went down as well as one would expect. I wonder, though, if there isn't some truth to it.

#42521

jimhabegger wrote:
feathers wrote:
jimhabegger wrote:We watched Columbo a lot, many years ago, and I keep thinking I might like to watch it again, but when I think of specific episodes that I remember, I'm not sure I would enjoy watching them again. If we run out of shows to watch on YouTube, we might go back to one of the Star Trek series. We really liked Deep Space Nine, but in later seasons it started getting too dark for me.
I'd say DS9 started off a bit bland but got all the more interesting as it drew parallels between the Cardassian occupation and the Nazi one. And the nerve-wrecking power play of the Dominion.
It was when it started to be all about the Dominion that I lost interest.

Same place.

#42522

I expect most people are good without God. Some people really fucking need God.

Then again you look at countries where they have asshole gods who are okay with you killing people and whatever, and you have honor killings and shit like that of people in their own fucking family, and I don't know, maybe people aren't actually good without a bit more direction.

#42523

rayshul wrote:I expect most people are good without God. Some people really fucking need God.

Then again you look at countries where they have asshole gods who are okay with you killing people and whatever, and you have honor killings and shit like that of people in their own fucking family, and I don't know, maybe people aren't actually good without a bit more direction.

I think religion gives people a structure to be uniquely horrible in a structured way. "Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man," as Thomas Paine said. Religion has the potential to turn he innately cruel kind, if a person's subservient rule-following overruled their lack empathy, but unfortunately the monotheisms aren't equipped to do it. People who turn to religion because they sense some lack in moral fortitude are usually jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

#42524

Hunt wrote:If the genre (if call it that) has an original, it's Hitchcock's Rope, about the Leopold and Loeb murder. They were somewhat older than the bizarre phenomenon of early teen murder, but surely it's got to be one of the strangest cases: murder as intellectual challenge.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb

Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. (November 19, 1904 – August 29, 1971)[1] and Richard Albert Loeb (/ˈloʊb/; June 11, 1905 – January 28, 1936), usually referred to collectively as Leopold and Loeb, were two wealthy students at the University of Chicago who in May 1924 kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Robert Franks in Chicago. They committed the murder—widely characterized at the time as "the crime of the century"[2]—as a demonstration of their perceived intellectual superiority, which, they thought, rendered them capable of carrying out a "perfect crime", and absolved them of responsibility for their actions.

After the two men were arrested, Loeb's parents retained Clarence Darrow as counsel for their defense. Darrow's 12-hour-long summation at their sentencing hearing is noted for its influential criticism of capital punishment as retributive rather than transformative justice. Both men were sentenced to life imprisonment plus 99 years. Loeb was killed by a fellow prisoner in 1936; Leopold was released on parole in 1958.

I have many objections against the death penalty but if there were any clear-cut case where it would be justified, it would be this.

Being Jews I'm sure Leopold and Loeb would have appreciated the balanced treatment of an-eye-for-an-eye.

#42525

Hunt wrote:So, I simply made up the bullshit theory that Christians are really psychopaths leaning on religion to make them socially acceptable. Well, on his alt-right Christian forum, that went down as well as one would expect. I wonder, though, if there isn't some truth to it.

Well that might be true of the very few. But let's be honest. The vast vast vast majority of Christians are Christian because they were born and raised in the religion. Just like the bulk of us tend to do things the way our parents did them, from the way we cook, to the types of food we buy. Someone who's father always changed his own motor oil is more prone to continue the habit. And someone who had someone else change it for him is likely to continue that habit. Far easier than reevaluating every single choice we have available in life.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

And for the vast majority of people raised in their religions, it has never really ever caused a problem in the way they live their lives.

And for those who tend to stray, the churches tended to snake them back in when it comes time for marriage. And then comes baptisms (better safe than sorry, and doesn't want to disappoint the spouse). And all the other rituals for the kids.

#42526

Hunt wrote: That's exactly the argument I used on Vox Day, when I was still in the mood to bitch with him. He always delighted in saying atheists are prone to Asperger's, just to turn the knife in the wound. So, I simply made up the bullshit theory that Christians are really psychopaths leaning on religion to make them socially acceptable. Well, on his alt-right Christian forum, that went down as well as one would expect. I wonder, though, if there isn't some truth to it.

Hmmm. Reminds me of how, not so long ago, a reasonably prominent writer/journalist (or something - I forget exactly) announced that he'd undergone a number of tests which proved - to his own satisfaction - that he was a psychopath. However, he was a well functioning, moral person who had no problem fitting in with society, though - as he admitted - a good few of his friends and associates thought he could be a bit of an asshole at times. In any case, his primary motivation for staying on the straight and narrow pretty much came down to a cost/benefit analysis: he had worked out that he would be able to continue doing what he enjoyed doing as long as he obeyed society's mores and laws, and that to do otherwise would put his enjoyment at grave risk, via such possibilities as prison, loss of employment etc. He confessed to being utterly unmoved by the actual distress he might cause were he to go to the bad: it was, as far as he was concerned, all about transactional value.

Still, it works, so good luck to him. I guess this type - along with those who attain a moral framework through religion - is what the experts would call a high-functioning psychopath. Seems that it's the dumbass psychopaths we have to be worried about; real-life Hannibal Lecters are probably more likely to be inoffensive bank clerks - albeit ones who are only to happy to foist punitive loans on hapless sub-prime customers.

#42527

deLurch wrote: .... /end-talking-out-my-ass

Thanks for the perspective. The next few months will be interesting.

#42528

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

#42529

Who else here, beside me, has had the opportunity to spend a drunken night with Hemingway's godson?

Didn't think so...

#42530

Phil_Giordana_FCD wrote:Who else here, beside me, has had the opportunity to spend a drunken night with Hemingway's godson?

Didn't think so...

Me. :burn:

#42531

Hunt wrote:
feathers wrote:
CommanderTuvok wrote:She's got Social Justice Warrior written all over her. Wouldn't surprise me if she has Pharyngula bookmarked. Fucking psychopath.
Also, she's 14 and her life is over. Her classmates will be going to the Proms and college in a couple of years; but not Kali Bookey.

Whatever is wrong with her, this is tragical and not only for the victim.
Are you kidding? In a couple years, after she gets paroled from juvenile hall, she have her own reality TV show ("Girlfriend Killer") and be worth 20 million.

Also, Stephanie Zvan could write a fawning defence of Kali, blaming the victim, and implying the victim's behaviour prompted Kali into acting out against injustice. She could call the article "Dear Jess".....

#42532

feathers wrote:
Hunt wrote:For a very good fictional account of this, see "We need to talk about Kevin" with Tilda Swinton. Very good movie, and very haunting.
And there's the Heavenly Creatures from back when Peter Jackson wasn't a bore.

You might, or might not, be aware that one of the real-life killers portrayed in Heavenly Creatures, became a best-selling author of CRIME and MURDER Mystery novels....... Her name is (now) Anne Perry. Plenty of fascinating articles about how her identity was blown around the time of the release of the film. I've never read her novels, but I have a feeling her description of murder would have a realist tinge to it.

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

#42533

CommanderTuvok wrote:You might, or might not, be aware that one of the real-life killers portrayed in Heavenly Creatures, became a best-selling author of CRIME and MURDER Mystery novels....... Her name is (now) Anne Perry. Plenty of fascinating articles about how her identity was blown around the time of the release of the film. I've never read her novels, but I have a feeling her description of murder would have a realist tinge to it.

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

I know, and I've always thought that she'd figured out that blowing her cover paired with the popularity of the film would do her (bank account) more good than harm.

#42534

Last week Ali asked me to buy Heavenly Creatures because she had never seen it. It's on our schedule now.

And I learned about Anne Perry through an old Cracked article. Say what you will about the Wong-lead (David Wong, aka Jason Pargin the very white guy) bastard SJWs, they still have good stuff.

#42535

Phil_Giordana_FCD wrote:Last week Ali asked me to buy Heavenly Creatures because she had never seen it. It's on our schedule now.

And I learned about Anne Perry through an old Cracked article. Say what you will about the Wong-lead (David Wong, aka Jason Pargin the very white guy) bastard SJWs, they still have good stuff.

old Cracked article

There's the rub. Old Cracked and New Cracked is like the difference between Animal House and The Legend of Awesomest Maximus.

#42536

[quote="windy"][/quote]

Windy, do you have a picture from your avatar in a better quality?

#42537

Oglebart wrote:
Tigzy wrote:
MarcusAu wrote:Those not familiar with Rod Hull - may still have heard of Johnny Carson and Richard Prior

[youtube]tLJMqU3rpR8[/youtube]
Rod Hull. The man who found a way to physically assault famous people on live TV and get paid for it. Legend!

I always found the manner of his death to be an odd mix of the pedestrian and unusual. He fell off the roof of his bungalow while trying to adjust his TV aerial and grashed through a greenhouse. It seems a fitting end for the bloke, despite the face that he probably deserved a better send off.
What products does Rod Hull use to do his laundry?

Ariel and Bounce :D :D

I think he was trying to get a signal for an England World Cup game too.

I think it was a Man-U game - could have been the Bayern Munich champions league final - Hope not though, cos he missed a cracking finish!

#42538

Tribble wrote:
fuzzy wrote:
Cnutella wrote:I thought Zinnia was supposed to be on the titty Skittles? There's not much to show for it, if so.
Good News!

[bimg]http://www.preggomilky.com/preggo-lacta ... 50x366.jpg[/img]

Photo shop. Zinna has tattoos.

EDITED BY FT: That image is NOT staying top of page!!!

Blessed be FT

#42539

deLurch wrote:
free thoughtpolice wrote:Camp Quest?
Has anyone seen Richard Carrier recently? He's been kind of quite. /jk

He was scheduled to speak at a Mythicist Milwaukee event, but seems to have been cancelled after comments appeared on FB questioning his predatory PUA practices.

But his slag cumbucket, Amanda Metskas, is still scheduled to appear on that org's podcast:

#42540

Carrier spills details -- Skepticon's Lauren Lane (you've seen her hammy introductions of PZ in several Skepticon videos) is the one who wrote the notice banning Carrier for being dangerous to staff and attendees. She's also the "other woman" with whom Carrier cheated on his wife years ago. And he claims that her actions since they quit fucking are that of a scorned woman.

He names targets of his pending "defamation case" -- Skepticon, FtB, Lane, Zvan, and Myers.

ZVAN. And MYERS. HAHAHAHA!!

Mr A+Plus does not like being on the other side of the accusing finger.

It is very disheartening to see feminists in our movement act exactly as MRA’s and other anti-feminists claim they would: by believing any claim told them without investigating it, and exaggerating ordinary and relatively harmless behavior into dangerous sexual harassment. This is a fundamentally broken epistemology. I have always said competent feminists don’t just “believe the accuser.” They take accusations seriously, by conducting or calling for a formal or at least competent investigation. That’s sound epistemology. Whatever epistemology The Orbit and Freethoughtblogs is deploying, it’s not sound. It’s dangerous. And I think this actually puts them now in a position where no one can trust them to accurately describe anything. And that severely harms the cause of feminism in the atheism movement.

.....

Unless they make major and public changes to their standards of conduct when dealing with serious accusations like this in future. They need to declare and commit to explicit standards that are actually and reliably capable of discovering false accusations (like the Amy Frank accusation, which has evidence against it that any competent investigation would uncover) and that will accurately describe the facts of a case (meeting legal standards as well as journalistic). Until they do that, they’ve destroyed their ability to advocate for victims. They have also handed a coup to anti-feminists, who oppose the legitimate causes of feminism by claiming all feminism must be toxic owing to the very things on display here: a dangerous credulity and exaggeration of facts. I believe The Orbit and FreethoughtBlogs have a lot of work to do to repair this damage and rebuild their credibility.

http://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/10967