"It’s alright to make fun of white cishet men because-"

No. Want to be a bully? Go ahead. Want to mock a little under half the population of the entire planet for traits they can’t help since they were fucking born with said traits? Sure. But don’t you fucking dare act like you care about equal rights when you’re actually nothing but a self-centered bitch.

Vineyards promote grape culture
Hardware stores promote rake culture
zoos promote ape culture
Brunches promote crêpe culture
Office supplies promote tape culture.
Home decoration supports drape culture.
claws supports scrape culture
Geometry supports shape culture.

The gaming community I know, the one I was introduced to as a kid and assimilated into, is incredibly welcoming. They’ll coach you. They’ll joke around with you. They’ll share favorite titles and epic replays. Gaming is inherently social.

The reason that we have such a negative outlook on gaming is because of unfair stereotyping and the perpetuation of loudness via xbox live and other anonymizers. Gamers past the age of 13 or 14 know how to conduct themselves, and the most popular figures in gaming are the ones that encourage universal participation.

If you bothered to go beyond scratching the surface, you’d find an incredibly warm and open-minded tcg community, a diverse fighting game community, and a mathematically talented RPG community. These are all circles that are known for wanting women and minorities to be involved in their hobby, and that have gone to great lengths to accommodate nearly everyone.

Gamers will only shun you if you don’t understand gaming.

"His enemies shall wither and die. His allies shall wither and die. The universe and all within it shall wither and die. And when the Great Corruption has settled over the land, and permeated the very foundations of reality itself, then shall the Lord of All rise from the rot and ruin, spread his arms wide to reclaim all his dutiful children…"

-“The Victory of Rebirth” from Litanies of Inevitability

Some drugs grow right out of the ground, because Mother Nature is one of those "cool moms" who would rather have you do it in a safe environment. But of course, that isn't enough for humanity. Over the last century and change, we've cooked up more super-drugs than a college student has ramen. And everybody knows what happens to those daring chefs: They're pushed into it by necessity, soon are completely overcome by greed, and ultimately brought down by their own hubris and a hail of bullets (but mostly the hubris). But even drug cooks can wear a blue collar. We sat down with an illegal drug chemist who wasn't forced into it by tragedy, didn't succumb to greed, and ultimately came down with only a mild case of hubris poisoning. Here's what he had to say about his former career:

#6. You're Not Always Pushed Into It By Desperation; Sometimes It Just Sounds Fun

I was just a wee teenager when I took my first dose of Ecstasy, with a girl whom I was madly in love with. It made me fall deeper in love with her, and also deeply in love with a drug that flooded my brain with a Burning-Man's-worth of Oxytocin. That's kind of what Oxytocin does.

It's no Oxycontin, but it's pretty great.

A few months before that, I'd done 2CB, a powerful hallucinogen that wasn't technically illegal at the time. It wound up getting banned, and the whole supply dried up. This terrified me; E was already illegal, and I knew there was no guarantee that the feds wouldn't bust whoever was making it for my state. I wasn't willing to live in a world where I couldn't roll my balls off a cliff at a moment's notice.

One day, a friend of mine mentioned in idle conversation that you could use nutmeg to get high. It's true -- I looked it up. Nutmeg contains a psychoactive chemical called myristicin, but what caught my eye was that it's also about 2 percent safrole. It was a revelation. Safrole happens to be one of the main reagents for MDMA (Ecstasy). I thought to myself, "Oh. These aren't manufactured out of thin air. These are from plants."


I resolved to learn how to make it -- mostly out of idle curiosity rather than criminal intent. I suspect a lot of nerdy kids get into this business because they love drugs and fall down the rabbit hole of studying how all these wacky chemicals affect their brains. One thing leads to another and then, boom, you're committing felonies in real life than most kids barely dare in Grand Theft Auto.

#5. Breaking Bad Got the Whole "Drug Sponsorship" Bit Right

The problem was the price. I added it up, and it'd take more than $2,000 to buy all the materials involved. And I had two things going for me: a minimum wage job and a morphine habit. Nobody was cashing out a 401k to fund a fun drug hobby here.


I was at a grocery store one day, dejected and bordering on sober, when I ran into a friend I'd known for years. I'd just started studying chemistry, and I was definitely too lippy about my drug brewin' plans. I lamented that I didn't have the cash necessary to fund my psychedelic start-up. Rather than being properly sketched out, he got really excited and said, "I've got somebody you should meet." And, rather than being properly sketched out, I had him set up a dinner.

He and I met with these Asian guys who didn't speak much English. I'll be referring to them simply as "the Asians" from here on out, because I don't think all of them wound up in prison and it's probably best to not be super specific with this sort of story.


So I walked them through what I'd need, while one took notes. He checked the list out with some other cooks, and it seemed legit. So they came back and offered to shotgun me what seemed like a shitload of money. I later found out they were big into the cocaine trade, and the few grand they were throwing my way might as well have been couch change, but at the time, I felt pretty important.

I rented a house and started setting up my lab, buying the best equipment I could and going as overboard as you'd go if a bunch of rich dudes offered to fund your hobby. Whenever I ran out of money, I went back to the Asians and said, "I need something more." I wound up buying a condenser that cost two grand by itself. I bought a high-end Rotovac. I built my own playground, filled with everything I'd ever wanted. In the end, I even had the stuff to start assembling a gas chromatograph. That's like, the Charizard of drug chemistry.


#4. We're Not All Unethical Scumbags; We Test Drugs on Rats...And Ourselves

Comstock/Stockbyte/Getty Images

It was difficult to get sassafras oil for the E. So I started with a small batch -- five grams of safrole -- in case I fucked it up. I had a few issues, so I wound up going to the Hive (an Internet forum full of helpful drug chemists) and asking questions. It worked, because the Internet will help you do anything, even if you shouldn't be doing that thing at all. I wound up with about 2.5 grams of MDMA; enough for ten or fifteen normal doses, or five crazy-ass-teenage-raver doses.



I was worried about using it or selling it, though. The final reaction involved elemental aluminum as a reducing catalyst. To get the aluminum oxide off the aluminum, you use mercury. You have to put the mercury into the reaction vessel, and you clear it out with sodium hydroxide. I wasn't sure if I'd done it right, and since I'd used powdered mercury, it had been invisible from the get-go, so I had to take it on faith that I'd gotten the poison out.

Drug chemists don't exactly occupy an elevated position in society. Some of you might even think I'm a terrible person for getting involved in this at all. But I got into making drugs because I'd had so many good times on drugs. I wasn't about to take the risk that the chemicals I made might hurt people. I had to find some way to test this stuff before I let it out onto the streets.


So I injected a small amount into a rat. It lived! And it staggered out of the experience with a whole new appreciation for electronic music. I tried it on myself next: 10 mg, then 20, then 50, then 100.

I was with one of my long-time associates when we first realized it worked. We both ran out in the yard, jumping up and down. It was celebration time. We were overcome by the realization of what we'd done, what we were capable of doing. We also may or may not have been on E.


#3. Being Dramatically Gunned Down Is The Least Of Your Worries


I got obsessed with the chemistry. I started cranking out things I didn't want, and which there was no market for -- the 2cb, a few different mescaline compounds. These drugs weren't economical (the dose required was so high and the demand was quite low), but my friends wanted to try them, so I made a lot of weird shit and gave it away. The scariest thing I wound up making was called DOB. It's an insanely powerful chemical, active at 1-3 mg. For reference, a small hit of Ecstasy is 100 times that size.



I ended up destroying that stuff, because I didn't really want to take it, and having anything that powerful is terrifying. Imagine if I'd sneezed on the pile -- a dusting of that stuff gets in your nose, and you're hallucinating for days. Unlike Acid, it's got a low LD50, so a high enough accidental dose could have killed me.

I was also a bit reckless with the dichloromethane. It is a fairly common solvent, but back then, I wasn't aware of how dangerous chlorohydrocarbons could be. It rapidly evaporates, and because I was a lazy teenage drug addict, I wound up leaving it out. It got into my air and, well ... now my vision is pretty bad and I sometimes can't distinguish colors. I found out later that these are classic symptoms of chlorohydrocarbon inhalation.


Eventually I started making MDA. That's basically a faster, off-brand version of Ecstasy. You can go from safrole to MDA in a mere five hours if you use a dangerous reagent named tetronitromethane (TNM). It's more explosive than TNT and it is very, very unstable. You had to make this shit behind a blast shield. The safe temperature range was around 160 degrees Celsius. If the temperature went up slowly, you chucked ice on it. If the temperature jumped abruptly, you had to run like hell, and maybe try to time your slow motion jump with the resulting house explosion.


#2. The Money Is Good, But You Can Never Really Use It

Stan Conti/iStock/Getty Images

The Asians were big into cocaine, supplying kilos and kilos of the stuff. They were reckless about it. They owned a restaurant for money laundering, and it was obvious to anyone who came around that no one went in there to eat. People would go in for 15 minutes and walk out with no food ... and this restaurant is doing $500,000 a year? More? So unrealistic -- nobody leaves an Asian restaurant with less than eight pounds of to-go boxes.


I got half the money from what I made. That's a pretty big cut, but the amount doesn't really matter. It's dirty. You can't buy a car with that, you can't put it in the bank, and you can't save up and buy a house. So I went out every day and bought game systems, every game that sounded even remotely interesting (even Ubisoft -- that's how little it mattered), or clothing. As long as it was under $500, no one cared that you paid in cash.

Once, after coming down from a roll, I was struck with the sudden idea to set up an agility course for my dog. I went to several stores and spent about $900 on pieces and equipment, even though I didn't have a good yard for it, nor was my dog particularly agile. I did it because I looked at him lying on the carpet while I was rolling and thought "I want to create a wonderland for you." He sniffed it once and resolved to never go near it again.


I talked to one Asian about laundering. I was under the Hollywood impression that it was really easy, but it's far more complicated and much, much slower than the movies make it out to be. I'd have to take whatever money I wanted to cycle through a bank and become an investor and equity partner in their business. It seemed like a really bad idea to stick my name on the same legal paperwork as some drug kingpins', so I declined. Better to waste my money on shovelware and abandoned dog parks than provide the DEA with a paper trail.

#1. The Hammer Will Come Down Eventually, But It May Not Even Hit You

There was a house where the lower-level dudes associated with the unrestaurant/drug syndicate would occasionally gather to get high. A girl was pulled over leaving the house with four E pills in her purse. She squealed. The DEA rented the house next door and wound up busting the place, and eventually the rest of the operation, too. Right around this time, I got a DUI. When I woke up in the cell, I thought for sure that's what I was in for. But nope! The local cops were just pissed at my drugged driving.

I was the happiest anyone's ever been to get a DUI.

I was staying with my parents when all this went down (most landlords ask that you provide verification of income and employment; surprisingly few of them accept Playstations instead of checks). I had some of my chemicals and equipment and a lot of my notes there. They'd known I was an addict, so when I said "I need your help to destroy everything right now," they gave it. We lived in a semi-rural area, so we went out behind the house and burned it all. Later, I cleaned the cook house with a friend. We put all those thousands of dollars' worth of glass into a bag, shattered it, and threw it in the woods. Somewhere in that forest is a half-burnt Charizard.

I've been sober for nine years now. The whole experience was humbling. It was a lesson that I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. And now that I look back on it, this whole journey was motivated by my ego. I thought I was brilliant, so much smarter than everyone else. The fact that I can't always tell colors apart anymore should testify otherwise.

Republicans don't have to worry about Ebola. The only people in this country that are contracting the disease here are people that help other people.

Five myths about the chemicals you breathe, eat and drink by Mark Lorch

Mark Lorch is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry

All too often the use of the word “chemicals” in the news, in advertising and in common usage has the implication that they are bad. You never hear about chemicals that fight infections, help crops grow or lubricate engines. That is because the chemicals doing that job are called antibiotics, fertilisers and engine oil, respectively.

As a result of the emotive language often used in conjunction with “chemicals”, a series of myths have emerged. Myths that Sense about Science and the Royal Society of Chemistry are debunking with the publication of Making Sense of Chemical Stories. Here are five of the worst offenders.

1. You can lead a chemical-free life

​The Conversation
Despite the many products that claim otherwise, using the term “chemical-free” is plain nonsense. Everything, including the air we breathe, the food we eat and the drinks we consume, is made of chemicals. It doesn’t matter if you live off the land, following entirely organic farming practises or are a city-dweller consuming just processed food, either way your surroundings and diet consists of nothing but chemicals.



2. Man-made chemicals are dangerous

So we have established that there is no way to lead a chemical-free existence. But surely natural chemicals are better than synthetic ones?

Nope. Whether a chemical is man-made or natural tells you precisely nothing about how dangerous it is. Sodium thiopental, for example, is used in lethal injections but it’s about as toxic as amygdalin, which turns up in almonds and apple seeds. What makes one of these chemicals dangerous and the other part of your healthy five-a-day is quite simply the quantity that you consume.

Granted there are many documented cases of man-made chemicals that have been banned due to health concerns. But on balance chemicals have done far more good than harm. A good example is brominated flame retardants which are no longer used in furniture due to allegations of unpleasant side-effects. However these worries should be balanced against the estimated 1,150 lives saved because the chemical stopped furniture fires spreading.

Even substances that are upheld as terrible cases of chemical pollutants, such the pesticide DDT, have their place. The World Health Organisation support its use for control of malaria transmitting mosquitoes stating:

DDT is still needed and used for disease vector control simply because there is no alternative of both equivalent efficacy and operational feasibility, especially for high-transmission areas.

3. Synthetic chemicals cause cancer

News outlets are fond of reporting about research showing “links” between particular chemicals and occurrences of cancer and other diseases. Sometimes the stories even claim that a substance definitely causes cancer or definitely cures it.

But more often than not these reports only cover part of the scientists’ conclusions. They just mention that an effect on cancer (either positively or negatively) was seen in the presence of a chemical. This is what we call a correlation, but it does not necessarily imply a causal link.



For example, the number of diagnosed autism cases correlates with sales of organic produce, but no one would seriously suggest that man-made chemicals used on farms somehow protects people from autism.

The point is that correlation on its own isn’t that useful, unless it is accompanied by other observations such as a plausible mechanism to explain it. But once a correlation is seen then scientists can start looking for that other supporting information.

4. Chemical exposure is a ticking time-bomb

Phrases such as “cocktail of chemicals” and “time-bomb” are pretty emotive, and they certainly make for good headlines. But we permanently live among a cocktail of chemicals and have done so ever since life first evolved in a chemical soup.

So why have we suddenly become more aware of all the chemicals in our environment? In part, it is due to amazingly sensitive technologies that allow minute quantities of chemicals to be detected. It really isn’t difficult for a chemist to find minute quantities of antibiotics in a swimming pool or cocaine in water supply.

5. We are subjects in an unregulated, uncontrolled experiment

There is no conspiracy. The reality is that the use, manufacture and disposal of chemicals are strictly regulated and controlled.

Each new synthetic chemical used as a food ingredient passes through a series of safety tests before it is allowed by the relevant body, such as the UK Food Standards Agency. New medicines go through clinical trials, which are even more rigorous tests, before the drug agency, such as the US Food and Drug Administration, allows it to be marketed. Even the tiny amount of waste chemicals produced by university research labs are managed according to the hazardous waste management rules of local governments.

Chemists in academia and industry have to adhere to these regulations in the process inventing or manufacturing amazing new chemicals to better our lives.

When you wish upon a star...

...every wish comes with a price.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/540189

Evidence for evolution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIEoO5KdPvg&list=UU_cznB5YZZmvAmeq7Y3EriQ#t=618

"As my wedding gift to you, I'm not coming! You're welcome."

"This is nothing more than a bunch of self-appointed gatekeepers who are attempting to dictate onto others what jokes can be made and which opinions they can hold under the guise of pseudo-intellectual social justice, and to be frank, it's retarded. these kinds of people are even worse than the chair force activists who try and change social policy by bitching about politicians on tumblr, and these morons are further supported by a bunch of nail-biting 'special snowflakes' who need to add a list of 'acceptable' pronouns to their profile in order to feel unique."

Thanks /pol/