Not worthy of a thread News

[verb_to_trust]

Sure, but we also live in a society that looks for the easiest way to address large scale problems. If when stories of sexually charged crimes against women come up and we focus on what women can do to keep themselves from being victimized, we inevitably take away from the drastically needed discussion on why we live in a society where for a lot of people, even if they won't admit it, think the girl had it coming.

We spend a lot of time and energy teaching women how not to be raped/assualted/victimized, but not nearly enough time teaching men and boys how not to do it. And it seems like a lot of the time the people talking about risk prevention are actively trying to avoid the other side of the coin.

And when we look at these pictures, when we start making jokes about them (all things i'm 100% guilty of), we lend ourselves to the trivialization of the crime itself.

All the things you've said make sense, and are applicable on a micro level. But on the macro, there's a very good reason why the "women should protect themself" voices are starting to get drowned out by the "don't blame the victim" voice.

While I don't disagree on any particular point, and I had something similar typed out and didn't submit it, I tend to think Skitch has an equally valid point on a "macro" scale.

First, we are in total agreement about the mistakes society makes when teaching people about sexually driven crimes. Teaching people not to commit sex crimes is very important and we avoid it because it's difficult. Agree. I also agree we will never achieve a world where people are safe to express their sexuality as they see fit without fear of assault, harassment, or violation unless we actually try to. Same page. And joking about the pictures certainly does trivialize the crime and it's effects on the victims. Totally agree and like you I am not casting stones here, I looked at some of the pics and have made jokes about the situation as well. And I did those knowing full well that parts of me tried to two-bit rationalize it like so many others; "well, they are out there now, damage done, what does it hurt for me to look after most everyone else I know (male and female) already has?", "it's just the media white knighting little blonde girls to avoid recognizing the debased, "sex sells" society they helped create, same as ever" or "if it had been dudes no one would have cared, why should I?" I'd like to think better judgement won out in the end, but it was a very "broken iris" moment.

But on your next bit, I think Skitch was making a valid point about the bigger picture and the need, and it is a need, to put forth the effort to achieve what should be does not mean we can deny the reality of what is. The momentum of opinion towards shaming the misogynistic "dumb rich hoes shouldn't be doesing that" stance, and the fact that society already spends so much time on risk, doesn't mean that continually educating about risks in cases like this is not equally as important, and helping teach people to avoid situations that dramatically increase the likelihood of victimization should not be confused with victim blaming should they fall into such a circumstance and it risks... here we go... creating a situation where people will intentionally put themselves in harm's way because they believe the moral high ground will protect them.

Education about risks is important. Sex offender registries exist for a reason.... and its not because society has turned a blind eye to reforming dangerous offenders.

[bodysnatcher]

My alma mater

http://jezebel.com/sorority-girls-alleg ... 1632007771

[Simple Torture]

My alma mater

http://jezebel.com/sorority-girls-alleg ... 1632007771

Wait a minute...THE Roger Dorn?

[Norah]

http://www.pressherald.com/2014/09/09/f ... ound-dead/

Founder of Hope Elephants found dead in corral, crushed by elephant

The founder of Hope Elephants, a Knox County facility that takes in circus elephants after they retire, was found dead Tuesday morning, and an autopsy has determined that James Laurita was crushed by one of the elephants.

The autopsy was performed Tuesday afternoon by the state Medical Examiner’s Office. It concluded that the cause of death was accidental from asphyxiation and multiple fractures resulting from compression of the chest.

Police continue to investigate the exact circumstances surrounding the accident.

Knox County Sheriff deputies responded to a call early Tuesday and, upon arrival, found Laurita, 56, unresponsive in a barn on the Hatchet Mountain Road property.

Police earlier had said it appeared that Laurita, a veterinarian, had been tending the elephants in a corral as part of their daily routine. They said he apparently fell and had struck his head on the cement floor.

Laurita opened Hope Elephants several years ago after a stint working for Carson & Barnes Circus in the late 1970s and early 1980s around the Midwest. His brother, Tom, was a ringmaster with the circus, while Laurita handled the elephants.

Laurita got a veterinary degree from Cornell University and worked with elephants at the Bronx Zoo and at Wildlife Safari in Oregon before moving with his family to Hope, a town of about 1,500 people just outside Camden.

In 2012, the two brothers brought two Asian elephants, Opal, 41, and Rosie, 43, to Maine from an elephant facility in Oklahoma, according to the Associated Press. Both were retired circus elephants. Laurita opened the nonprofit Hope Elephants, raising $100,000 in donations from individuals and small businesses to build the elephant center, where they said the goal would be veterinary research and public awareness.

In 2011, Laurita told the Boston Globe that plans for the therapeutic facility included acupuncture, as well as ultrasound, nutritional support for arthritis, and even an innovative water treadmill for high-resistance, low-impact exercise.

The goal, Laurita said at the time, was to “come up with new methods to treat arthritic animals. We’re going to give her the kind of therapy a racehorse would receive.”

Elephants are the world’s largest land animals. Asian elephants are considered endangered, with fewer than 50,000 living in the wild and 16,000 more in captivity, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The facility drew criticism from animal rights groups that called the center unsafe and inhumane, and said that Maine’s cold climate was inappropriate for elephants.

“They might think they’re doing something kind for the elephant, but in truth they’re not,” Melissa Gates, founding director of Animal Rights Maine, told the Globe in 2011. “It seems to us that they plan to continue to exploit this elephant.”

The California-based group In Defense of Animals got comedian Lily Tomlin to write a letter to Gov. Paul LePage opposing Laurita’s plans.

The board of the Hope Elephants organization plans to release a statement later Tuesday.

This story will be updated.

[BurtReynolds]

Live by the elephant...

[Fuck You Jobu]

1248 "genres" of music and a spotify playlist for each.

http://www.furia.com/misc/genremaps/eve ... &scope=all

[McParadigm]

Inexplicably: 'Fat shaming’ doesn’t work, a new study says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-y ... tudy-says/

Thank god they checked.

[dimejinky99]

I did not know this. Cool read. Star-Spangled Banner is 200 years old
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us ... 361?page=2

[McParadigm]

Study suggests 'happy wife, happy life' maxim is true
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282545.php

This actually caught my eye at first because it was a classic example of how reporters misrepresent or misunderstand the scope of assumptions a research study can be said to evidence. Like so many "science proves it!" articles out there, this one has more than one predecessor claiming the same or the opposite results (with just as little accuracy).

However, ignoring the typical disassociation between the actual study (and what it's findings could reasonably be said to imply) and what conclusions the article chooses to draw, I really enjoyed this line:

However, they also found that wives became less happy if their spouses became sick, but the husbands' levels of happiness did not change or show the same outcome if their wives became ill.

I was thinking about some of the elderly couples I know, and trying to come up with a maxim for that tidbit. "Sickly wife means happy life, still." "Men are great big babies." "Great news, Tina. My wife is all drugged up and I've got a Cialis." Or, most likely, "Why doesn't he just hurry up and die?"

[nyquillyn]

LOL!



Bible-pushing Christians open the door for Satanic activity books in Florida schools

The Satanic Temple has responded to an Orange County, Florida decision to disseminate religious materials in public school by creating complementary materials that espouse the philosophy and practice of Satanism.

Last month, a Florida judge ruled that if the Orange County school district allowed Christian groups to disseminate Bibles and Christian-oriented religious materials in its schools, it would also have to allow atheist groups to do the same.

David Williamson of the Central Florida Free Thought Community — who recently fought against Brevard County’s attempt to ban atheists from offering invocations at public meetings — sued the district over its initial unwillingness to allow atheist literature with titles like “Jesus Is Dead” and “Why I Am Not a Muslim” in the schools.

A judge dismissed that case after the school board decided to allow the materials.

The Satanic Temple took advantage of this decision, deciding to flood Orange County schools with a pamphlet entitled The Satanic Children’s Big Book of Activities that contains kid-friendly Satanic lessons.

“These bullies are mad and afraid of things they don’t understand,” the instructions on the word-jumble reads. “Help Damian use inclusive language to defuse the situation.

The spokesman for the Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves, explained that his organization “would never seek to establish a precedent of disseminating our religious materials in public schools because we believe our constitutional values are better served by respecting a strong separation of Church and State.”

“However,” he continued, “if a public school board is going to allow religious pamphlets and full Bibles to be distributed to students — as is the case in Orange County, Florida — we think the responsible thing to do is to ensure that these students are given access to a variety of differing religious opinions, as opposed to standing idly by while one religious voice dominates the discourse and delivers propaganda to youth.”

The Satanic Temple made headlines earlier this year when it successfully petitioned the state of Oklahoma to allow it to erect a goat-headed Baphomet statue adjacent to a display of the Ten Commandments.

Greaves made it clear that, in both cases, his organization is only responding to provocations by the Christian community.

““Even as we prefer public policies respecting secularism, we feel that opportunities — such as this — to establish an equal voice for contrasting religious opinions in the public square, tend to favor marginalized, lesser-known, and alternative religions,” he said.

“I am quite certain that all of the children in these Florida schools are already aware of the Christian religion and it’s Bible, and this might be the first exposure these children have to the actual practice of Satanism. We think many students will be very curious to see what we offer.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/bibl ... a-schools/

[Fuck You Jobu]

[McParadigm]

The Satanic Temple made headlines earlier this year when it successfully petitioned the state of Oklahoma to allow it to erect a goat-headed Baphomet statue adjacent to a display of the Ten Commandments.

I might have to print this sentence off and tuck it in my pocket, just so I have it with me wherever I go.

[nyquillyn]

[broken iris]

Even Satan knows better than to put one in the stink.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Is that in your house?

[philpritchard]

On a tangentially related note:

Petition growing to re-erect Satan statue in Vancouver

I appreciate that CTV went with that headline.

[McParadigm]

America, Why Won't You Just Ban Your Own Fat Ass?
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20140916 ... rss_public

[nyquillyn]

There was an Isaac Asimov book that I read when I was a kid where all the people in the future had these belly wheels that their gigantic guts would rest on while walking around. I wonder if I can steal that idea, "invent" a similar device and not have to pay the Asimov family any royalties?

[Fuck You Jobu]

Best Job Ever? Waka Flocka Is Hiring A Blunt Roller With An Annual Salary Of $50K

http://elitedaily.com/entertainment/cel ... er/758016/

[broken iris]

Ancient 'moon god' monument unearthed in Israel

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... srael.html



*******


It's pretty amazing that given our technology we still stumble on discoveries like this.