[Nekko Fox]'s diary

37319 Link to this entry
Written about Sunday 2014-08-17
Written: (3899 days ago)

Myth: The "Greatest Generation" of World War II Was Better Than Later Generations

As Tom Brokaw will gladly tell you for the low, low price of $16.95, the Americans who fought in World War II were "the Greatest Generation." The men of that era were, quite simply, special. After all, a man doesn't grow up during the Great Depression and breaststroke across the Atlantic to crotch-punch the Nazi hordes into submission just to wind up some shiftless pot smoking hippie, like their ungrateful kids.

Why It's Bullshit:

The Greatest Generation was just like you, had you been forced to serve in a monstrously destructive war. In other words, they were scared shitless and miserable.

Big emphasis on "forced," because no matter how many times we're told that the Greatest Generation went to war because it was "the right thing to do," it doesn't change the fact that two-thirds of the U.S. servicemen were drafted. But we're told that the Greatest Generation was different from those who've come since, and in a way that's true -- because two-thirds of the men who fought in Vietnam volunteered.

Only partly because 'Nam's such an awesome vacation destination.

World War II's draft dodging numbers dwarf both Vietnam's and World War I's. Desertion rates between World War II and Vietnam were pretty much neck and neck. And when they weren't dodging or deserting, the Greatest Generation was doing the third best thing: getting completely shitfaced. Soldiers in Vietnam took a lot of heat for drug abuse, but the Greatest Generation was dying of alcohol poisoning so fast that the U.S. Army started putting up warning billboards displaying the "Deaths from Poison Liquor to Date" (G.I.s weren't picky about their booze and often drank methanol -- aka antifreeze). Not to be outdone, creative sailors sometimes swilled the alcohol that fueled torpedoes. When the U.S. Navy caught on and started putting additives in the "torpedo juice" to make the soldiers sick if they drank it, the submariners one-upped them and learned the art of distillation via torpedo engine.

The lesson here is: Never underestimate the resourcefulness of a conscripted serviceman looking to drink away his misery. Drunk finds a way. Drunk ... finds a way.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_21091_5-bullshit-facts-everyone-believes-about-wwii_p2.html#ixzz3AbwSN0mc

37304 Link to this entry
Written about Saturday 2014-08-09
Written: (3907 days ago)

37303 Link to this entry
Written about Saturday 2014-08-09
Written: (3907 days ago)

Next in thread: 37306

If Tumblr Were Reality

Be tumblrfarian
Privilege alarm rings at 10:10
Check it
Proceed to roll out of bed and into bathroom
Stand on scale, 341 lbs
Perfect healthy weight for a womyn my size
Boot up FEEDMASTR
Cake appears right in front of me
Through bites of cake I recite the Pledge of tumbllegiance
I pledge tumbllegiance, to all forms, of genderqueerophobia...
Can't continue hunger is too strong
Finish cake
Look back at tumblr
Decide to pray to #feminism
First post is of transpangendhomoasexual womyn
She punched a passerby man in honor of feminism
Cry and pray for her to get womyn judge
Scroll to second post
OH NO CAKE ON THE FLOOR FROSTING EVERYWHERE
Broken cake is one of my triggers
Can't bear the thought of uneaten cake on the floor
Thoughts and flashbacks of cake on the floor come into my head
Can't stop these images
...
Wake up in hospital
Thin privileged doctor eye raping me as I wake up
He says, "Miss, you've had a stro-"
Cut him off for not checking is privilege
Given electric scooter and exit hospital
Two tall white muscular males approach me as I roll by
They violently assert all of their privileges at me at once
Another one of my triggers
I start visualizing cake, but the only images that I can fathom are those of destroyed cake
Get double triggered
Try checking my privilege
Cannot get past the double triggered PTSD
Think about triggers
Triggers are my third trigger
I get triple cake privilege assertion trigger triggered
The world starts to fade
Blink slowly
See Hilary Clinton
She says it will all be alright in tumblrfaria
Also says she'll install privilege checking stations once she's president
I feel myself drift away
Goodbye Hilary

37302 Link to this entry
Written about Saturday 2014-08-09
Written: (3907 days ago)

Next in thread: 37307

Huh, finally someone explained it.

"'cis' is a Latin prefix, and was traditionally used in chemistry. It means 'here' or 'on the same side of'

'trans' is a prefix which means 'across' or 'on the other side'

so a cisgendered person would be someone whose sex and gender match. Whereas a trans person would not."

37301 Link to this entry
Written about Saturday 2014-08-09
Written: (3907 days ago)

Next in thread: 37309

<img:stuff/aj/1005/1407553443.jpg>

37293 Link to this entry
Written about Thursday 2014-08-07
Written: (3909 days ago)

"Every year, I try to do at least two things with my students at least once. First, I make a point of addressing them as “philosophers” – a bit cheesy, but hopefully it encourages active learning.

Secondly, I say something like this: “I’m sure you’ve heard the expression ‘everyone is entitled to their opinion.’ Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself, maybe to head off an argument or bring one to a close. Well, as soon as you walk into this room, it’s no longer true. You are not entitled to your opinion. You are only entitled to what you can argue for.”

A bit harsh? Perhaps, but philosophy teachers owe it to our students to teach them how to construct and defend an argument – and to recognize when a belief has become indefensible.

The problem with “I’m entitled to my opinion” is that, all too often, it’s used to shelter beliefs that should have been abandoned. It becomes shorthand for “I can say or think whatever I like” – and by extension, continuing to argue is somehow disrespectful. And this attitude feeds, I suggest, into the false equivalence between experts and non-experts that is an increasingly pernicious feature of our public discourse.

The Conversation
Firstly, what’s an opinion?

Plato distinguished between opinion or common belief (doxa) and certain knowledge, and that’s still a workable distinction today: unlike “1+1=2” or “there are no square circles,” an opinion has a degree of subjectivity and uncertainty to it. But “opinion” ranges from tastes or preferences, through views about questions that concern most people such as prudence or politics, to views grounded in technical expertise, such as legal or scientific opinions.

You can’t really argue about the first kind of opinion. I’d be silly to insist that you’re wrong to think strawberry ice cream is better than chocolate. The problem is that sometimes we implicitly seem to take opinions of the second and even the third sort to be unarguable in the way questions of taste are. Perhaps that’s one reason (no doubt there are others) why enthusiastic amateurs think they’re entitled to disagree with climate scientists and immunologists and have their views “respected.”

Meryl Dorey is the leader of the Australian Vaccination Network, which despite the name is vehemently anti-vaccine. Ms. Dorey has no medical qualifications, but argues that if Bob Brown is allowed to comment on nuclear power despite not being a scientist, she should be allowed to comment on vaccines. But no-one assumes Dr. Brown is an authority on the physics of nuclear fission; his job is to comment on the policy responses to the science, not the science itself.

So what does it mean to be “entitled” to an opinion?

If “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion” just means no-one has the right to stop people thinking and saying whatever they want, then the statement is true, but fairly trivial. No one can stop you saying that vaccines cause autism, no matter how many times that claim has been disproven.

But if ‘entitled to an opinion’ means ‘entitled to have your views treated as serious candidates for the truth’ then it’s pretty clearly false. And this too is a distinction that tends to get blurred.

On Monday, the ABC’s Mediawatch program took WIN-TV Wollongong to task for running a story on a measles outbreak which included comment from – you guessed it – Meryl Dorey. In a response to a viewer complaint, WIN said that the story was “accurate, fair and balanced and presented the views of the medical practitioners and of the choice groups.” But this implies an equal right to be heard on a matter in which only one of the two parties has the relevant expertise. Again, if this was about policy responses to science, this would be reasonable. But the so-called “debate” here is about the science itself, and the “choice groups” simply don’t have a claim on air time if that’s where the disagreement is supposed to lie.

Mediawatch host Jonathan Holmes was considerably more blunt: “there’s evidence, and there’s bulldust,” and it’s no part of a reporter’s job to give bulldust equal time with serious expertise.

The response from anti-vaccination voices was predictable. On the Mediawatch site, Ms. Dorey accused the ABC of “openly calling for censorship of a scientific debate.” This response confuses not having your views taken seriously with not being allowed to hold or express those views at all – or to borrow a phrase from Andrew Brown, it “confuses losing an argument with losing the right to argue.” Again, two senses of “entitlement” to an opinion are being conflated here.

So next time you hear someone declare they’re entitled to their opinion, ask them why they think that. Chances are, if nothing else, you’ll end up having a more enjoyable conversation that way."

37292 Link to this entry
Written about Thursday 2014-08-07
Written: (3909 days ago)

Next in thread: 37298

Have you ever wondered what might happen to your body in space without a spacesuit? Is it really as dramatic as the movies make it out to be? Would you literally EXPLODE? Could you survive?

On Earth, we live a pretty cozy existence thanks to our protective atmosphere. It shields us from the Sun’s harmful UV rays, regulates temperatures and also maintains a nice atmospheric pressure. The vacuum of space, however, is much more hostile. Without this lovely thick atmospheric blanket, you’re exposed to all sorts of things.

The most serious dangers of exposure to outer space are a lack of oxygen and ebullism. Ebullism is the formation of bubbles in body fluids due to a reduction in ambient pressure. The pressure in the vacuum of space is so low that the boiling point of the fluids in your body decreases below the body’s normal temperature (37oC), which results in the formation of gas bubbles in your fluids that can really mess you up. You’ll swell up pretty bad, perhaps even up to twice your normal size, but you won’t explode as your skin is very stretchy. Your blood will also not boil. You will, of course, be in an immense amount of pain and your blood circulation will be impeded.

As mentioned, the other serious danger is a lack of oxygen. After around 15 seconds, your body would have used up all of the oxygen in your body and you’d lose consciousness. Some of you may be thinking “But I can hold my breath for minutes!” The situation in space is a little different than here on Earth due to the lack of outside pressure, and if you held your breath in space without a suit you’d be in a big trouble. This is because any remaining air would rapidly expand, rupturing the lungs.

After losing consciousness, you’ll probably last a couple of minutes maximum before you die. Of course, there’s all that nasty UV from the Sun which is going to give you horrific sunburn. UV and other high energy photons (X-rays and gamma radiation) would also damage the heck out of your DNA, leading to mutations that would likely cause cancer (if you survived). It’s also typically extremely cold, but you wouldn’t instantly freeze as the vacuum would cause heat to transfer away from the body very slowly.

In sum- you’d swell up, burn, mutate, pass out and your lungs might explode. Lovely. But don’t worry, if you’re ever in this sticky situation, you’ve probably got a solid minute or two to be rescued before you die, so chin up.

37291 Link to this entry
Written about Thursday 2014-08-07
Written: (3909 days ago)

Next in thread: 37297

There is now a new hashtag, goes by '#ifiwereaboy', that's plastered on signs by women.

It's essentially a variation to the 'I need feminism because' theme. Funny, because when women spun around and posted 'I DON'T need feminism' sign pictures, they were heckled and told they were being juvenile for writing messages on signs. So, now they are doing it again, but it's different now!

Except it's the same.

And it's the same exact bullshit.

'#ifiwereaboy I wouldn't give people PTSD because of gender' (which is insulting and crude to compare whiny-hurt feelings with PTSD)

'#ifiwereaboy I'd put the seat down' (Men put it up, women put it down, but I guess that back and forth can be ignored)

'#ifiwereaboy I'd educate myself about feminism' (Although everything we learn about feminism we learn from feminists)

'#ifiwereaboy I'd treat women as people who deserve to be respected' (First off, respect is earned, second off, not all men treat women like garbage.)

'#ifiwereaboy I'd take the time to have a conversation' (Because no men take the time to have conversations)

It's just another wave of ludicrous radical nonsense and it makes me grind my teeth.

37262 Link to this entry
Written about Monday 2014-08-04
Written: (3912 days ago)

"The Second Law of Thermodynamics says that systems must become more disordered over time. Living cells therefore could not have evolved from inanimate chemicals, and multicellular life could not have evolved from protozoa.
This argument derives from a misunderstanding of the Second Law. If it were valid, mineral crystals and snowflakes would also be impossible, because they, too, are complex structures that form spontaneously from disordered parts."

Fuck Creationists who use this bullshit line.

The Second Law actually states that the total entropy of a closed system (one that no energy or matter leaves or enters) cannot decrease. Entropy is a physical concept often casually described as disorder, but it differs significantly from the conversational use of the word.

More important, however, the Second Law permits parts of a system to decrease in entropy as long as other parts experience an offsetting increase. Thus, our planet as a whole can grow more complex because the sun pours heat and light onto it, and the greater entropy associated with the sun's nuclear fusion more than rebalances the scales. Simple organisms can fuel their rise toward complexity by consuming other forms of life and nonliving materials.

37260 Link to this entry
Written about Friday 2014-08-01
Written: (3915 days ago)

<img:stuff/aj/1005/1406920197.png>

"Why should I deign to acknowledge you, a former lackey of a shrivelled corpse who comes begging to my master because of some pathetic tantrum? No, you are nothing to me, as insignificant as a raindrop in a storm."

-Prince Darcentile VI, Paragon of Slaanesh

37254 Link to this entry
Written about Sunday 2014-07-27
Written: (3919 days ago)

The headless horseman rides tonight
through stark and starless skies.
Shattering the silence
with his otherworldly cries,
he races through the darkness
on his alabaster steed.
The headless horseman rides tonight where the fates would lead.

The headless horseman rides tonight
begarbed in robes of black
to bear a being from the earth
never to bring him back.
He is evil’s foul embodiment,
with laughter on his breath.
The headless horseman rides tonight,
The minister of death.

The headless horseman rides tonight,
he rides the wind alone.
Beneath his arm he tightly tucks his head of gleaming bone.
His voice is harsh and hollow,
it is horrible to hear.
The headless horseman rides tonight
to fill the earth with fear.

The headless horseman rides tonight
upon his fateful trip.
With silvery scythe of steely death
held fast in bony grip,
he sweeps it swiftly forth and back
as over the earth he glides.
And none in the world is safe tonight
for the headless horseman rides.

—from The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight - More Poems to Trouble Your Sleep by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Arnold Lobel

37253 Link to this entry
Written about Saturday 2014-07-26
Written: (3921 days ago)

"Shut up. Shut the fuck up. Take stock of your fucks, Byron, and be sure to shut them immediately, because I swear to God there's a storm coming, you hear me? There's a god damn typhoon bearing down on you right now with a righteous fucking fury. So you batten down those fucks, okay? You keep 'em closed up real tight, and you just be as quiet as you can be. You concentrate on getting me back where I can see as fast as you can, without bashing my fucking shin-bones to pudding in the process. Or else I swear to Christ, as soon as I can see again, I will hold your prissy head underwater so long it'll make a giant batch of asshole tea out of the entire fucking reservoir."

37250 Link to this entry
Written about Thursday 2014-07-24
Written: (3923 days ago)

"But religion doesn't do anything bad!"

Well...yeah, apparently it does.

http://www.iflscience.com/brain/religious-children-struggle-separate-fact-fiction

37234 Link to this entry
Written about Wednesday 2014-07-23
Written: (3924 days ago)

Next in thread: 37236

Internet activism -- particularly with the weird culture that seems to pervade Tumblr -- isn't about making a difference, or even raising awareness; it's just about proving how superior the writer is to his or her audience. Tumbloggers (or whatever you call them) with blogs like Shutthefuckupsexists.tumblr.com or IWillLiterallyMurderYouIfYouMakeARapeJoke.tumblr.com aren't actually trying to spread awareness or insights. They're just trying to outdo each other, to win this weird competition that has nothing to do with anything but their own egos. They all want to find the new, more nuanced, more complicated social problem ("adult privilege" refers to the injustice that teenage voices aren't valued, and "tall privilege" refers to fuck knows what) that no one else has heard of. They're treating social issues the way hipsters treat bands: using the advantage of knowledge to make it painfully, irrefutably obvious that they are better than you.

37233 Link to this entry
Written about Wednesday 2014-07-23
Written: (3924 days ago)

According to Tor Wager, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU-Boulder and probable Star Wars character: "Right now, there's no clinically acceptable way to measure pain and other emotions other than to ask a person how they feel."

37228 Link to this entry
Written about Saturday 2014-07-19
Written: (3928 days ago)

http://philpapers.org/archive/SHATVO-2.pdf

37227 Link to this entry
Written about Saturday 2014-07-19
Written: (3928 days ago)

Male privilege is being condemned to 3 times the sentence that a woman would for the same crime.

Male privilege is sustaining 97% of the combat deaths in the military.

Male privilege is being denied the right to a paternity test in Europe and India, but still having to pay child support.

Male privilege is having only 2 shelters for battered men in the U.S.

Male privilege is continuously being blamed for committing the most abuse against children, sexual or violent, when studies say that women are the most common culprits.

Male privilege is having the court system favor women in regards to divorce, rape charges and allegations, and child custody, regardless of how unfit the mother is for being the parent.

Male privilege is having to explain that, while most CEOs are male, the number of ditch diggers, truck drivers, and menial labor workers are far greater, but somehow that's perfectly fine.

Male privilege is being unable to defend yourself if a woman attacks you.

Male privilege is being arrested if you call the police because your wife or girlfriend attacked you with a weapon.

Male privilege is being labelled guilty and made a social pariah because of a false rape allegation, both in court and in the living neighborhoods.

Male privilege is being forced to pay child support, even if you have the child the majority of the time.

Male privilege is being labelled vile and evil, even if just for standing while peeing or sitting on a tram with your legs spread.

Male privilege is having a shorter life expectancy than women, but the demand that you work 5 years longer before you retire.

Male privilege is being more likely to commit suicide, be homeless, be denied welfare, be denied child custody, and having to fear commitment because 75% of women are the instigators in divorce.

Male privilege is having to deal with the hypocrisy of Post Modernism (demands men look good, are insulted for wanted physically appealing partners, etc).

Male privilege is contending with 93% of industrial and work related deaths and injuries.

Male privilege is being told to be quiet, that you are not allowed to have an opinion, even when people are shrieking agreement that we need to get rid of Father's Day or Kill all Cis Men or have a National Castration Day.

Male privilege is being circumcised when you are too young to be able to protest and none of the women complain, but the circumcision of females at any age is considered 'cruel and barbaric'.

Male privilege is being told that men need to 'stop the cycle of violence', despite studies showing that middle class women hit their children 932 times a year, the children being between 7 months old and 4 years old.

Male privilege is being forced to accept male disposabilty as a reasonable social requirement (Women and children first, while many men on the Titanic died).

Male privilege is having to listen to women screaming 'check your privilege', despite the prejudice it entails.

Male privilege is being mistreated by radical feminists and told by everyone else 'That's not what feminism is about', before being denied the rights given to women.

Male privilege is being ignored by 86% of the people you turn to if you are sexually assaulted, molested, or raped.

Male privilege is being labelled a psychopath and hate-monger if you join an MRA group for support in times of stress, but when women join a radical feminist group preaching free-bleeding and castration, it's considered empowering.

Male privilege is being told you aren't allowed to cry by a woman, and then told she's leaving you because you don't show your emotions.

Male privilege is having to accept a 14 year old boy being raped by his female teacher, and the dismissal of her trial, as 'acceptable'.

Male privilege is being forced to sign up for the draft.

Male privilege is being denied access to your children, and your home, if the woman in your life deems you a threat (whether this is true or not has shown to be of little concern of the courts).

Male privilege is not being allowed to sit next to children on British Airways or Virgin airlines.

Male privilege is being unable to recover losses to himself or his business from the government due to his gender.

Male privilege is having NO say in whether a child can be put up for adoption.

Male privilege is being terrified of hooking up while out at a bar for fear of being accused of 'date raping' his partner.

Male privilege is being considered privileged for having a sexual preference.

Male privilege is being forced into the role of a negative stereotype, and condemned for attempting to correct the false accusations of society.

Male privilege is being denied the right to apply for Federal Child Benefits in Canada unless you get a written note from the mother.

Male privilege is being called 'lazy around the house', despite a 2013 meta-analysis of the American Time Use survey, Pew Survey, and a nationally representative sample of 2511 adults finding that, between genders, housework is carried out equally.

Male privilege is being fined over $20,000 and facing a year in prison in France for a male soliciting a paternity test.

Male privilege is not having a say in the termination of an unwanted pregnancy.

Male privilege is bogus.

37220 Link to this entry
Written about Thursday 2014-07-17
Written: (3930 days ago)

Next in thread: 37223

The List of Things the Tech Priest is No Longer Allowed to Do In Dark Heresy

The tech priest is not allowed to quote Emperor Palpatine every time she uses Luminen Shock.
The tech priest will refrain from yelling binary across the table at other gamers.
Dubstep is not an appropriate way to pass a Fellowship check with another tech priest.
The tech priest will not have a slap fight with the Assassin character after receiving above average quality augmetic arms and will incur all costs for his medical treatment if this goes ahead.
The Mimic Talent is a privilege, not a right.
The tech priest will not have their arms replaces with augments, put on a stylised face mask and stomp about electrocuting people yelling “DELETE! DELETE!”.
Collecting a bunch of metal dildos and using Ferric Lure or other talents to impale enemies is not a valid ballistic OR melee attack.
The tech priest will not communicate in hashtags. Or tweets. Or memes.
Tech Knock does not require the tech priest to disrobe at any stage of the Rite.
There is never an appropriate time to deliver “Surprise Slaught” with a medical mechadendrite.
Walking up behind an enemy PC and saying “You’re working too hard”, followed by shocking him to death will result in the forfeiture of xp.
Just because you have the Disturbing Voice Trait does not mean you automatically sound like a Dalek. Or Christopher Lee.
The tech priest will not get into the Walker and charge the enemy monster shouting “Get away from her you bitch!”.
The tech priest does not have a gadget belt. Or a gadget butt.
No, you don’t have a mechadendrite for that.
The tech priest will not communicate in indecipherable beeps and whistles, or in a metallic British accent.
Security feed hacking is for missions, not for personal use.
Tech priests do not use Ferric Lure to remove Sister of Battle armour.
Maglev Grace/Transcendence cannot be used to avoid your Inquisitor telling you off.
Tech priests do NOT have neurotoxin grenades, and their MIU controlled servitors do NOT say “Dispensing product” before firing.
You will not call your servo skull “Johnson”.

37219 Link to this entry
Written about Wednesday 2014-07-16
Written: (3931 days ago)

http://bibviz.com/

37218 Link to this entry
Written about Tuesday 2014-07-15
Written: (3932 days ago)

Loli porn for a friend. You know who you are.

<img:stuff/aj/1005/1405443870.gif>

37216 Link to this entry
Written about Monday 2014-07-14
Written: (3933 days ago)

Yo, vaccines.

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/immunizations/tp/Anti-Vaccine-Myths-and-Misinformation.htm

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