Like a lot of people in the US of A, I am taking a long weekend. Posting may be a little light for a bit. So here’s an open thread for everyone else taking a long weekend. Or not. Use this thread for anything that’s not personal. Like misogyny, politics, kitties, you know the drill. (Though kitties are welcome in all threads, of course.)
I am hoping my long weekend turns out a bit better than that of the people in the Australian movie of that name from 1978, which I keep meaning to see. Apparently their little beach vacation doesn’t go so well, and they are attacked by … nature? At one point, I believe, they face off against an enraged dugong. (No, really.) The movie was recently remade, but apparently the remake wasn’t as good.
Stay tuned for more reviews of movies I haven’t seen and that I’m just giving vague impressions of based on things I’ve heard somewhere.
I had a last comment, which was too late. Basically his final contention is that I’m a bully, because I say I know better then he what he believes.
This is, of course, a misrepresentation. I don’t think I ever claimed to know what he thought, only what he said.
I even went to the effort to show exactly what it was about his presentation which led to my conclusions. It was, at that point, he stopped trying to make new arguments, and just said, “you’re nothing but a pompous blowhard meanie-mcmeanerson!
So, either James Pollock is a lousy communicator, or there was a large group of people who just chose to pretend they all saw the same problematic arguments, and implications.
I know which seems more likely.
There is a third option, less kind to him: He might have been using complexity of presentation (e.g. being confusing) to provide an escape hatch if he was caught out. This is most common when someone want’s to be able to back away from a controversial/questionable claim, or argument.
I don’t really think this was the case, because his core positions were pretty steady (and they were independent of his gaslighting: that was done when he attacked someone, and got caught out: He wasn’t willing to own his shit).
So yeah, he was shit at making himself understood. I also think he was hoping he could retcon his asshole shit, with the equivocations (e.g. the, “it’s unfair if she gets us all turned on with sexy clothes and won’t have sex with us).
But he had the chance, more than twice, to actually retract the statement, and he didn’t. He just pretended he hadn’t made it.
So… not an honest actor. I don’t know if he’s a harasser, but he’s got some red flags; and he’s also got some red flags for abuse. I wish I thought he was really going to stop advocating for his ideas on how to deal with harassment.
LBT, remember also that when you are in need and other people can (and want to) help you, it is a gift to them as well to accept their help (granted, so long as they aren’t doing it to be manipulative). I’ve been in a place to help others before and it made me very happy to be able to do so. Right now I am in a place where I am accepting help from others, and that doesn’t feel right because we are socialized to think that accepting help (framed as ‘charity’) is less worthy than being able to give it. But both are sides of being part of a community.
You’re knitting the four double-pointed method, auggz? I’ve never been game to try that. I drop stitches easily enough when there’s only one point per needle (so far I’ve had to do threee repairs to the tunic and I’m only about 16 cm into it. ARRRGH!
Do you ever use circular needles? I tried doing a cowl on them a while back but couldn’t keep it straight. I’ve used them for adding a brim to a finished beret, but that’s all.
Pecunium – yeah, it’s a curious mixture, isn’t it? If he’s just a lousy communicator, why’d he double down or try to weasel out of things every time? I get the feeling the best one could say of him is that he really doesn’t see what a fucking entitled shit he is. Privilege on legs, and he doesn’t see it. That, or he is at least borderline harasser/abuser (especially because of the gaslighting efforts), in which case he’s still a lousy communicator, because his attempts to come across as totes reasonable didn’t fool anyone. The only people on the thread supporting him were taking the same victim-blaming poor menz approach.
I wonder if that Jeremy creep would be happy if some woman did take his advice and carry a pistol – and USE it on him when he harassed her, as I’m pretty confident he does. Mr “anything but a gun in my face is a yes” (in summary) doesn’t sound like someone remotely trustworthy.
RE: gillyrosebee and hrovitnir
Thank you! I feel so much better now.
Also, OMG, I just discovered… THE BIVY SACK! Lighter than the tarp tent, waterproof, and more likely to keep out bugs. For $100, no bad. Only thing is my pack wouldn’t fit in it, but maybe a garbage bag? Not heavy, can be wadded up tiny… what do you think?
*flips back through the thread*
Well, I’m suddenly very glad I spent my weekend helping my brother and his wife move into their new basement suite.
Arms and legs aren’t, but brain and heart is.
Yay feeling better! The bivy sack looks pretty sweet. I’ve heard good things about them, dunno about the particular brand though.
2.25mm! Flippin’ heck, that’s almost sewing needle size! No wonder you don’t want to have to undo it all. Those sock should be terrific when you’ve done. What colour/s are they?
*socks
This is weird, but obsidian, can we have an email debate about this sometime? Like a civilish one?
LBT – I’m not an expert or anything like it, but looking at that particular bivy, I don’t think it’s actually rainproof. A lot of reviewers complained about that, since it doesn’t have anything but a mesh cover for the face area. Wouldn’t want you to get all drenched in the rain.
leftwingfox, at least it wasn’t a 4th floor walkup? I hope the aches and pains pass quickly!
auggziliary/Kittehs I actually started using a circular method whenever possible, because I get very bored with hand sewing and will be more likely to adapt a pattern to produce as few seams as possible. Circular needles are best when the piece is bigger than the needle and can be gathered a bit to fit. Small pieces like hats, mittens and booties, or socks I always use the double pointed set; I just find it faster and less tedious than to do the ‘magic loop’ thing with a longer circular. Moving the loop takes me time to stop and pay attention to, while I can knit in the round (straight, no pattern) without even bothering to look at my hands. When I was in grad school, I would sit in the library for hours with my books up on a stand and my knitting in my lap, only stopping occasionally to take notes.
Right now I am working on one of these http://knittingetcithaca.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Knit-Swirl.jpg in a heathered grey merino wool, or at least I was before it got so frakking hot out…
@ Argenti
RE the furry ones, have you wet them down yet? It can really help when it’s hot, particularly if you wet their heads. I used to do that for my cat when we lived in an apartment that got stupidly hot in the summer.
On Pecunium’s nemesis, I don’t think he’s a bad communicator, I think he’s just a good old fashioned selfish asshole.
That’s my impression, too. I saw him in a few other threads on Popehat (seems to be a regular, and very prolific, commenter), and he uses the same schtick over and over. To the rest of us, these things are real, serious issues that need addressing, because we’ve been hurt by them.
To him, these things are fodder for a game in which he plays vocabulary games, dodges, re-defines, gaslights, and tries to score some kind of rhetorical point until he’s satisfied that he’s right, and everyone else is just not as smart as he is.
So, yeah. Probably not an abuser, and maybe not even an MRA. Just a selfish asshole, to whom other people’s pain and distress are game pieces.
::looks at jacket::
::dies of envy::
I can’t knit in hot weather either.
Yeah, I find knitting on circular needles a bit confusing – I’ve only done it successfully when adding to an already-sewn-up beret (the one I’m wearing here – only pic I have of it). When I tried a cowl, despite being, I thought, careful about not twisting the knitting, it turned into an Escher cowl anyway.
@auggz, I’ve never tried knitting in different-coloured yarns for patterns either. It’s either multicoloured yarn, or I’ve added a plain band to a coloured beret. I like that look and the result from using finer yarn for the band; helps the beret expand properly. I like my caps wide. 🙂
Which is abusive in itself, given internet contact = IRL. Low-level, but abusive nevertheless, especially since he seems to take pleasure from it.
Cassandra — the dog sticks his head in his bowl, the cat would kill me (she’s been playing long cat and draft stopper by my brother’s door, she can borrow his AC, I can’t, go figure).
I am tempted to try talking my father into letting me shear the dog like he was a sheep. He’s got long black fur and must being fucking miserable in this shit (he’s plopped in front of a fan)
I should probably grab ice for the fish in the morning and drop some in the water bowls while I’m at it.
And plop and ice pack under my mac, it is Very Fucking Cranky. Meh, I should be done soon and then it can take a week off. (Last chart! Update footnotes! Spell/logic check! Email David!)
LBT, poverty sucks VERY HARD, and being dependant on other people sucks even more. Most especially when their help comes with unspoken conditions. It’s wonderful that your friends are willing to support you.
That place you’re in, where you feel well enough that you SHOULD be able to do more, is very seductive, and very dangerous. It tempts you to take on more than you can handle, and you (well, I) backslide and crash hard.
Please take the help, and keep taking care of yourself, and each other.
RE: dustydeste
Good point, though that thing looks damn big, and I could squidge down at the bottom. (The handy part of having an economy-size vessel.) Regardless, I think I shall bring a tarp as well, as insurance. It’ll cover my gear, possibly my head, and I can jury-rig extra shelter if need be. Plus tarps are just handy.
RE: Unimaginative
Yeah, I’m REALLY leery about backsliding, in my case. The past four years or so have been a nasty cycle of burnout, walking wounded, backslide, and the whole reason I’m doing this big trip is to try and completely reboot my brain with new config files.
@Agenti
It is NOT a good idea to shave the dog; it might hurt the dog more than it will help. This explains why:
http://www.veterinaryinsider.com/public/Thinking-About-Shaving-Your-Dogs-Hair-Coat-For-The-Summer-Think-Again.cfm
1000!
Curses, I was just about to hit 1000!
::gnashes teeth::
ō.Ó? I would not have thought that looking like a wool producing animal would help in this shit.
Speaking of shit, that Popehat thread!! Wtf is THIS?
@auggz – those patterns are gorgeous! I can’t see myself doing knitting that complicated, either. Took me a year to get to grips with rib stitch!
@neuroticbeagle, I never knew that about shaving dogs, either! I see a collie who gets clipped (not really shaved, there’s a little more hair than that) in the summer. Presumably her owner doesn’t know about this either.
Oh, so sorry… Wait, no I’m not. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!