Hope you all are having a lovely day today, whatever this day means to you (or doesn’t). Consider this an open thread, to discuss whatever, from presents to politics to cats to whatever holiday stress you might be feeling.
And here’s some stuff I found on the Twitter.
— David, who is hanging in there
Merry Christmas, everyone! 🎄🎅 pic.twitter.com/YfyTsQ95de
— Maggie Serota (@maggieserota) December 25, 2017
At this time of year, take a few moments to remember who Christmas is truly about… pic.twitter.com/TQ9tSP5EED
— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) December 24, 2017
I haven’t laughed this hard in a while. I needed this. pic.twitter.com/2aQFpugdis
— deray (@deray) December 7, 2017
Brian Eno, Paris, 1973 (with Christmas 2017 augmentation) pic.twitter.com/hRwMDTOUKv
— Brian Eno News (@dark_shark) December 25, 2017
“Fun” pic.twitter.com/tsAdsZeez8
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) December 24, 2017
#MerryChristmas 🎄🤶🏻 pic.twitter.com/IahMZhf5gc
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) December 25, 2017
Same. pic.twitter.com/kcNPdrLy6R
— Adrenalin (@adrenalindenver) May 24, 2017
🎈🐾🐅🎈🐾🐅🎈🐾🐅🎈🐾🐅🎈🐾🐅
All of a sudden …
🐾🐾🐾🐾 pic.twitter.com/fza8NZioI0
— The Cult Cat (@Elverojaguar) December 25, 2017
Human: My cat has an easy life
Me: pic.twitter.com/e8kvlVhUdR— Curious Zelda (@CuriousZelda) December 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/awwcuteness/status/945193410662682624
Say, everyone? What’s your stance on enjoying movies starring/directed by/produced by actors/directors/producers accused or convicted of sexual abuse/assault/harassment? Back when Rolf Harris was convicted of it, I vowed to boycott his works, but now that it feels like every male celebrity and their dog has been accused of it, this just doesn’t seem practical anymore. I find it inconceivable that anyone could not like at least something associated with at least one of these men. So do you reckon it’s acceptable to look past the conduct of its creators and enjoy media on its own terms?
Abars, I’d say it totally depends on your comfort level. For myself, I kind of decided that yes, I’m still probably going to consume media related to terrible people because I’m still going to consume media. However, in cases where I know the creator is a cruddy person, my consumption will be such that I minimize their profits. Like, I can wait until anything weinstein hits the secondhand discount shelf before watching, and it won’t kill me.
And I’m still probably going to watch a movie at the theater once or twice a year. I’ll try and go to movies where I haven’t heard anything awful or where I’ve heard good things about folks and concepts therein, but if I end up going to a movie where there was awfulness I hadn’t heard about?
The credit scrolls have WAY more names on them than just the few folks who make big bucks. Digital artists and camera grips have to eat too, so I don’t think that everyone HAS to boycot every movie where a leading actor/producer/director is a terrible human, because if we did we’d be punishing those little fast moving names in the credits too.
So, yeah, there are ways to conciously try to reduce your consuption of art generated by awful people, and I’d recommend maybe trying to limit exposure because if enough people do, things will eventually change. But…
I (at least) won’t think you’re an awful person if you don’t cut everything instantaneously.
Many thoughts…
@ Surplus to Requirements,
I saw your comment about disappearing objects yesterday and began to read more about this. Myself and my neighbor friend went to the store earlier and were discussing all of these things too. Now we’re having a few brews and can maybe come up with some ideas….
(Or gripes about our own bad luck.)
Before I get started on that, let me say something about taxes, Democrats, and everyone’s (on the R anyway) favorite punching bag: Chicago.
We live in Chicago. And it snowed last night and this morning. And you can say what you will, but the roads are cleared! As soon as we passed into the next county west – the roads had not been plowed AT ALL! It wasn’t a lot either, maybe 3 to 5 inches. Did they have their plows out? NO. It appeared that all the snow was still sitting on the roads and it was a HUGE mess!
Back in Cook Co. (Chicago) – roads are as clear as a summer day! Barely a bit of moisture on them. So say what you will, the roads are cleared. And for what those people pay in property taxes out there, they should have heated roads! I can’t believe they find that acceptable.
One other side thought….
We got back in here and I flipped on the TV, I had a PBS channel on and it was a show about Johnny Mathis. My (recently passed) mom always liked him and I teared up…..
What an amazingly talented guy though, there were interviews too and he seems like a very nice man. I try to look at the positive side of things 🙂
Mom would’ve liked this show, and I would’ve called her too, to alert her to watch it. Tara said, maybe she is here with us now and watching it too?
Maybe she is 🙂
Bad Luck……
@ Surplus,
I don’t get the “disappearing objects”, but Tara used to, and this is why I wanted her help with this. When it happened to her was when she lived with her ex who had previously lived in a haunted house. And the guy is also a Native American. If that means anything. Some say it does, like they “attract spirits”. On the other side of the coin, she says his entire family turned Catholic for the sole purpose of trying to rid the house of ghosts – and this did not work.
From all the tales she told me of that place, I was most interested and said let’s go and see! Of course she has no desire to interact with her ex (who has since bought this house), and even more so, she is terrified of the place. Won’t set foot in it nor go near it. Doesn’t even want to drive past it! Other people have experienced it too.
@ Miss EB47 and other Aussies,
Even people from Australia, who came to stay there. They too saw the ghosts. (We have thoughts on harassment for you too, upcoming.) Ultimate harassment: Harassed in your own home and you don’t know who or what is doing it. Yikes. She experienced “a hand in my face”, distorted perceptions, the stories she relays from ex’s parents are really bad. Things constantly moved around. Whole boxes of things and furniture moved, things shoved off of shelves, cold spots, someone being shoved down a stair case. I know this person and I believe her.
And same for her. What people told her. Many people who spent time in the place experienced it. Including seeing an “old man” in an outdated suit who would stand by windows and even sit in chairs! And had enough “presence” to appear as an actual person.
Her ex saw him one time, standing by a window, he said to this spirit: I can still see you, and this spirit gradually faded out. From what (little) I know of these things, this is a classic “haunting”.
The creepiest thing she told me……
OK so the ex was kind of a “Macho” guy. As she says. I take this as the type who’s not going to take any crap, tries hard to look and act tough (he took martial arts lessons and had a motorcycle), well you get the idea.
One time he called her at work, right before quitting time, and they had plans to go out later. She was confused as to why he’d call her work at all, and when she was leaving the office soon anyway.
As she tells it, she says to him on the phone:
Why are you calling? Do you want me to stop at a store on the way?
Him: Well, noo…..
We’re going out later, right?
Him: Yeah
Do you want me to stop at the store or pick something up?
Him: No
Why are you calling me at work? It’s 10 to 5, I’m leaving.
Him: Well, I just thought I’d call….
And it was like “pulling teeth”, this conversation on the phone. She’s getting frustrated and trying to get him to tell her what he wants.
Her: So WHY are you calling then? I’ll be there in a half an hour!
He said, because he had to pass through some rooms to go upstairs to take a shower to get ready to go out, he said –
Yeah I was gonna go take a shower but I don’t want to go through the living room because there’s something in there….
O HOLY CRAP NO!!!
I literally got goosebumps hearing this! Mr. Macho is afraid to walk through his own house!?
And he wanted me to move in there with him!
Yeah, HELL NO! to that! I agree.
She wouldn’t move in there with him, did spend time there, would not move in to the place and they got an apartment to live in.
Where all kinds of objects kept disappearing. The ghosts had followed?
@ Surplus, and it sounds just like you said! Something you set right in front of you was gone. “Pens” she says, I was always losing pens. And – “Him too!” She says, he was always losing things right in front of him. They would joke about “ghosts”.
She left that place too, and him, they had other issues, and fled east here. She thinks it’s better here and more safe. I think this area is rather creepy myself, she has deemed it “safe” so that’s vaguely reassuring, maybe.
There is something to this. If you live in a flat out haunted house? People from all over the world SAW the ghosts? It isn’t your imagination.
I kind of would like to see this place, Tara says NO YOU DON’T!
And if it means anything at all, when she had the invisible hand in the face she says she “mentally projected” to the spirit “I had a hard life, please leave me alone” – and it did.
I have other thoughts on this all, and harassment, I should make a new post so this doesn’t get too long.
@ Numerobis,
I am very sorry to hear about your friend 🙁
I am rather depressed myself, but trying to keep a grip.
@ Surplus to Requirements,
It is this too, all the things that go wrong, which should not. I’m very tired of dealing with constant issues which should NOT happen.
Yesterday night I was reading up on some of the things you mentioned and I came upon the subject of “Monitor Spirits”. You might want to read more about this.
I’d like to think that there are past relatives in some spirit realm to help me, but several have been there for some time, and why would they agree to make my life so hard? And to be clear, I don’t necessarily have that hard of a life, but everything constantly goes wrong.
I DO NOT LIKE PRACTICAL JOKES!
I DO NOT LIKE “LIVING ON THE EDGE”!
If anyone, including spirits, would know me, they would know that I DO NOT like such things AT ALL!!! And where is the HELP? Or even a bit of peace? I even stopped wanting anything at all! WTF is going on here???
I told my mom, shortly before she died: I don’t even want anything anymore….
Yes, I am trying to keep a grip on myself and maybe just having some dark days here. All I can do is try.
On another subject,
@ Weirwoodtreehugger,
You were sick? You have my sympathy, same here, for all of us. Friends I speak of as well as the entire area. Schools and biz’s were shut down. People are wearing face masks. It’s bad.
Miss T here, who’s about in the same emotional state as I am, or sick of everything, this is the girl who got bit by a poison spider. Bit in the face. And besides the surface issues (looked like bad chemical burns), this also went into the sinuses. And then she got sick with this flu too.
Before that….. (and this might be disturbing)
I saw it, I helped, she had these awful sores all over the face, but it was going down and getting better. And of course I will try to help my friend. Simple things, you don’t feel well, I’ll pick up things at the store for you, help with basic chores, like that.
And it was getting better, the bad sores and scabs on her face went down. The sinuses were still affected….
She showed up on my front doorstep one day, pounding on the door, shrieking…..
It was a good thing it was around 6 at night or else I would’ve panicked too! And there she was, head covered in blood, and holding in the hand more globs of blood (wanted to show me), and I was horrified! At what may be wrong.
That was what had come out of the sinuses. Globs of blood and mucous the size of golf balls. And she was shrieking and crying and didn’t know what to do!
I got her calmed down. It was (IMO) a sinus infection from these bug bites. I got her calmed down and “fixed it up” by shoving tissues soaked in peroxide up her nose. And this seemed to work.
I am good in a crisis. They say that about people with PTSD…..
Well now she got this flu too, and is still sick!
Poor Tara 🙁
And this is another thing that should not have happened.
I JUST DID A HARD CORE CLEANING! HOW CAN THERE BE BUGS IN MY HOUSE?
And poisonous ones? There aren’t many around here. We all figure it was a brown recluse spider.
And it never should’ve happened and makes no sense. Or, it does, because as people say “sometimes these things just happen.”
Another example of weird shit, – that really has no reason to have happened. And as she says too – OK, I got bit by a poisonous bug, it couldn’t bite me in the ass?
Yeah, why bites to the face? What is this? Not only do you not want to wind up disfigured, but also, anything to the face is always extremely painful and then the sinus issues.
Why should such a thing happen? To a good person? Doesn’t have a mean bone in their body. Why?
I will never forget this either, the worst thing, poor thing covered in blood, shrieking and crying, it was awful!
She wants me to put here, so I will, – Thank the gods for you!
That I was here to help 🙂
I do always want to help. Anything I can do for others, I am happy to help.
Makes you wonder why too…..
Why is it that the good people seem to encounter so many problems and suffering?
Sincere people who try hard and care – are somehow “kept down” ?
Is this a thing?
Yes it is and it’s an absolute fact, Jack, and you can disregard the spirit realm for the temporal realm, because it happens there too.
See: Republicans, Alt Right, Authoritarianism, and other assorted Fascist ideology.
@ Miss EB47,
Wanted to make this a separate post. I, friends here, we all do understand. You should be able to walk down your own street and streets in your neighborhood without fear.
And we all agree with – taking a different route. And varying your schedule, if you can.
You shouldn’t have to, but it is what it is. We have had sim problems.
Our Other Z here had a good idea – figure out this guy’s address and look him up online. Maybe he’s known to the local gov? In the US there is the “Sex Offenders” registry, I do believe there is the same or sim in OZ.
Or maybe you can see if he has a criminal record.
Any of such info may not help you with simply trying to walk down the street, but it might.
Why are men so sex obsessed? But they aren’t though. Only the very bold and fearless can try this – call their bluff. Walk right up to them and say – OK, you wanna fuck me? Let’s go.
And chances are they will shrink away in fear. Or stammer about “their wife”. 90% of them won’t do shit, so WHY do they harass? What is the goddamned POINT?
The only thing I can figure is that they do it for the sake of doing it. They get a charge out of simply harassing. And they would never follow through.
One friend did something, did it a couple of times with good results, I may try it in the future….
With harassing men, she walked right up to them and used a “fake accent” and said “OK you man, we get married now! You like me? We get married now! You come to my house later, we get my father and the priest! You my boyfriend now! Serious significant other! I know US English! You get me green card?! This mean you my serious boyfriend now! I go get my father and the priest! We get married!
And it scared the hell out of the guy and he backed right the fuck off!
HA
I’ve heard sim from others, about married men hitting on them at work, they said basically, – OK, let’s go. And the man slunk right off in fear. (But also stopped harassing them.)
Only the very bold and fearless should try these tactics though.
Shadowplay-That’s a good idea. I will ask around when I see his neighbours out and about. I won’t be surprised to find out if he done this before, people like him have always done this before. I am still thinking about telling Dad, I will see how I feel over the next couple of days. I just don’t get why he is doing this. It’s stupid really. I have a several advantages over him-I know where he lives, I know his car and I am going to get his number plate, and I also carry I camera/smart phone almost everywhere I go. I will be easily able to tell the police and show them evidence if his behaviour escalates. Which I guess why he sticks to waving at me, plausible deniability.
ZT-I can easily take a different route, thank goodness. I also roughly know his schedule. He is only there on weekends, on week days I think he will only be there late in the afternoon. I can simply just change my route during those times. Also, looking him up online is a great idea. I know where he lives. I can get his name and number from just looking him up in the phone book! (Geez, the more I think about it, the more of an idiot he seems) Then I can see if he is on the “Sex Offenders” registry. I think calling his bluff is also good idea. I LOVE what your friend did. Hilarious!! I think a good thing for me to do is simply walk up to him and tell him that I don’t know him and ask him why he feels the need to bother a complete stranger. I will tell him that he is being annoying and that he is being a creep, and if it doesn’t stop I will get the police involved. I will say it loudly so his neighbours could hear. I think that will make things very awkward for him. 😀
@MissEB47
Just wanted to add a little more on my advice on this.
You know your Dad best and know best how he’d react (though the old man might surprise you :P) so that has to be your call. But tell someone. It never hurts to have backup in an odd situation, and it does ease your mind some, regardless.
Also – very nice job on noticing a pattern and not dismissing it as just some saddo. 🙂
I love Lorikeets, BTW. Sweet tempered clowns. 🙂
So, the Illinois 3rd district Republican candidate Arthur Jones is a Nazi
https://twitter.com/nadinevdVelde/status/960271185442304000
Not a racist asshole who is pretending not to be a Nazi while dogwhistling all over the place. A literal Holocaust memorial protesting swastika saluting Nazi.
Luckily it appears to be a blue district so he’ll probably lose. But I don’t ever again want to hear anyone whining about how mean it is to call every Republican a fascist and a racist. I mean, I obviously knew that Republicans were fascists before this, but this is just the final nail in the coffin and you can be damn sure I will bring this up next time anyone ever tries to tell me that some Republicans are nice people.
Saw the Nazi. Makes me sick.
Also in sickening: He helped Halle Berry and Taraji Henson to stardom. Now 9 minority women are accusing him of sexual harassment.
The tl:dr – some dude positioned himself, thanks to a bit of good luck, as the agent for WoC actresses. Used his power about how you’d expect.
Hello.
Maybe he was already presented here, but in case of…
Meet Jordan Peterson, a psychology teacher à Toronto University who seems to be going a source of inspiration for many MRA… And being a teacher is going to give him more influence. Pity.
Have a nice day.
More on Jordan Peterson:
freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2018/01/29/how-did-this-guy-become-a-darling-of-the-conservative-skepticatheist-movement/
The mens rights subreddit has given me a mild chuckle today, at least.
Guy is doing a half assed AMA, giving the weight and gravitas of his experiences as an ex feminist.
He’s also about 20, so there is that. 😛
The sad thing is, he seems a decent enough sort.
@occasional reader, @Arctic Ape
To add to what you posted, I shared a tiny bit of Peterson’s “wisdom” a few days ago, to wit: it’s unfair for men when they argue with women, because they’re not allowed to hit them.
My consolation was (1) trying to unravel how many levels of wrong there were, and (2) the responses from the good folk here.
@Weird Eddie,
I already thought your comment was spot-on. And then this morning I read this:
Oh, the world knows.
Illinois Nazis.
I hate Illinois Nazis.
> Arctic Ape
Thanks for the link.
> Mish
Ah, now you speak about it, i remember your post ! At least the quote, as i forgot whose quote it was. Sorry for my bad memory.
Ok, so he is absolutely no new in his way of thinking, but being a psy teacher may give him some credits in the mind of some people. Damn authority bias (or is it authority argument ?).
@Z&T
I heard some “statistic” that the average American eats something like 5 spiders while sleeping in their home every year. Kinda gross, but hopefully it will make you feel better. :p
“And poisonous ones? There aren’t many around here. We all figure it was a brown recluse spider.”
Can I be honest here? I’m not trying to be an asshole, but what happened to your friend does NOT sound like it’s likely to be a brown recluse bite, it sounds more likely to possibly be some kind of bacterial infection. Brown recluse bites, (when they cause severe symptoms), are usually SINGLE bites, they usually turn white, purple, or blue, the usually indent down (the flesh like dries out), AND they usually clear up witin a few weeks, unless they become infected, or something else is goes on.
Bacteria are *literally* everywhere (could have picked it up in the subway, or the mall), but they are more likely to cause multiple reddish, leaking, bleeding, or crusting sores, and the infection could eventually spread and eventually kill her.
Look, I’m just an asshole on the internet, and I very well could be wrong. But I’ve also seen spider bites before, (including one dxed as a brown recluse bite, although there is no way in hell it was done by a brown recluse in my area), and every time I read about your friend I grow more worried. Hopefully I’m missing some key info here, and I’m totally off base. But I would rather say something and be wrong, than say nothing and be right.
Either way, take care. And good luck to both of you.
RE: Kat’s article
‘[Ethan Hawke] said he told Tarantino, “Hey, man, she is a great actress, not a stunt driver, and you know that.” Hawke added that the director “was very upset with himself and asked for my forgiveness.”’
Like we need any more proof that men view women’s bodies as belonging exclusively to men, here we have Tarantino blowing off Uma Thurman’s concerns about her own body, but yet still begging for forgiveness from her husband. I’m slightly surpised that he didn’t manage to work in Thurman’s father into the apology.
All I can say to Tarantino, is
?????????????
ETA (Those are middle fingers, not thumbs ups ?)
To me, the surprise is not that Paul Ryan shared that anecdote. It’s common for Republicans to be that out of touch. Remember when George W Bush used a woman working 3 jobs as evidence for America’s greatness?
The troubling for me is that the woman in the anecdote reported being pleasantly surprised rather than insulted by this piddling raise. $1.50 a week would barely help people a hundred years ago. Let alone now. It’s terrifying that working class are this beaten down that people would be grateful to be treated like shit. I don’t know what else to call it besides Stockholm syndrome.
In other class warfare news, yet another company is using their tax cut to screw people over. Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Kleenex, Huggies and Cottenelle is using the cash to pay the costs of closing 10 factories and firing 5,500 workers. Trickle down economics at its finest!
“$1.50 a week would barely help people a hundred years ago.”
I think my grandparents made something like $0.15 an hour 100 years ago. (I had to interview them for school, and I was shocked at how little they made. There wasn’t even a federal minimum wage 100 years ago). $1.50 extra of takehome a week would have been a sweet raise.
It’s slightly insulting to call the poor “beaten down” for being happy to be getting money that they were not getting before, even if it’s a very small amount. (Am I “beaten down” for being happy to get $20 on XMAS?) The important point is; what will she have to GIVE UP in order to get that ~$80 a year? Her heathcare? Her retirement protection? What? It’s not like it’s a free, extra $80 gift. That money exists at the expense of something else. That’s the important point for us to focus on.
Also, to add to the above post, I’m in no way defending Paul Ryan, or any of the Republicans, who repeatedly complain that the poor would be JUST FINE if they only stopped buying coffees at Dunkin Donuts. I’m ONLY talking about the poor secretary.
Remember the asshole Repug who said that the poor could afford health insurance if they just stopped buying smart phones? Even ignoring that smart phones are now often cheap/free, and even assuming that a poor person spent an absurd $1000 on a smart phone EVERY YEAR, WHERE in the US can you buy private health insurance for that price? The cheapest I’ve ever found it was for several hundred dollars A WEEK.
OUT OF TOUCH.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’m not insulting her. I’m insulting a plutocratic capitalistic system for abusing the people not in the ruling class to such an extent that many are grateful for scraps. $1.50 is six quarters. It’s not even enough for one bus ride in most places. It’s the price of a 12 ounce bottle of soda from a vending machine.
I used the word abuse on purpose. All too many workers believe they deserve to be treated like commodities rather than people and are so pathetically grateful for the slightest acknowledgement, the slightest bit of faux kindness. Even if it’s next to nothing. It looks a whole hell of a lot like an abusive relationship to me.
And as I’ve said before, I’m not some rich girl looking down my nose at the proletariat. I recognize this because I’ve seen similar attitudes at my own crappy workplaces. Like my last job when we were rewarded for production with fun size candy bars. I don’t even mean everyone got them. They were prizes for performance. I found it insulting and a transparent attempt to manipulating us into working harder for no real compensation. Many of my coworkers lapped it right up.
So yeah, it’s pretty damn obvious that a significant portion of the US workforce is too beaten down and/or brainwashed to fight back. Not really seeing how that’s a controversial statement.
Wow! It would have been more honest, and probably less insulting, if they’d just spat on the people who didn’t make target.
On a slightly more postive note, here’s a tear inducing (but in a good way) tribute to the survivors of Nassar’s abuse from yesterday’s UCLA vs Oklahoma meet. Assistant coach Jordyn Weiber of UCLA and OK team member Maggie Nichols are among the survivors. So it was personal for both teams and they all came together.
This kind of thing is why there’s been such a backlash against the #metoo movement. Women coming together and supporting each other and listening to each other is absolutely terrifying for those who have a vested interest in upholding rape culture. For rape culture to thrive it is necessary for women and girls to stay silent because they don’t recognize abuse for what it is or because they’re afraid no one will believe them. Rape culture also needs women and girls to see each other as threats and rivals instead of sisters and friends.
I’m not naive enough to think rape culture is going to disappear over night simply because there’s been some moments of female solidarity recently. But it does feel like something crucial has changed over the past year and we’ve made a big step forward despite the inevitable backlash.
Anyway, it’s a beautiful tribute and I recommend it even if you have no idea who any of the people in it are.
Am I the only one sensing a certain amount of ambivalence on the sex abuse scandals? “Yeah, I suppose we HAVE to report it, since it’s news and all, but what a shame to wreck the reputation of such a great actor/singer/director/quarterback/coach/politician.”
It hit me when I was reading a comparison of the Salem witch trials with the satanic cult hysteria of the 1980’s. What really gets people fired up about this stuff is when it can be used to go after nonconformists. Compare the ho-hum attitude of the public with what would happen if some trans person attacked a child in a restroom. Heck, we’ve had hysteria already and I’ve yet to see any documentation that any trans people HAVE used any (other gender) restrooms, period.
And it can also be used to go after people of low status. If two women get raped on the same day in a high-rise office building, who’ll get hit the hardest: the CEO or the janitor? The CEO will be out on bail by happy hour; the janitor will be hit with the national debt of Norway.
So (deja vu all over) we have a legitimate cause being used as a weapon of classism.
Yep. The movement was all along a big conspiracy to ruin the lives of working class men. You found us out.
Oh wait, no. That’s not it at all.