If you're detouring to Arkansas, my little detour is likely too far in the other direction, and I can't spare sleeping space. But look up Maryville, MO, and if you'd like, Gingerkitty and I live up there. Otherwise, if there's a KC meetup happening for -t, someone clue me in.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 7:09 AM on July 9, 2008

Ok, I'm ashamed of myself. I've never read projects. Probably because none of my projects (with the exception of research nobody reads and an even more boring blog) have an Internet presence.

Maybe I'll go check it out later...
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 9:23 AM on April 21, 2008

I congratulate you for owning who you really are. There are too many closets, of all sorts, in this world. Have a hug, if you're into hugging straight women, HotPatatta!
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 8:14 AM on April 14, 2008

I'll wave in your general direction...if you have one in the summer, especially on a Friday, let me know -- otherwise, I can't make the two-hour drive down there from Middle of Nowhere MO.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 9:37 AM on March 3, 2008

Wait -- that's a Saturday. hmm....
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 9:38 AM on March 3, 2008

How sad. I loved Hellspark and Mirabile. I didn't know she was a Mefite.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 5:26 AM on March 2, 2008

I don't think you want to read my dissertation, and like Quietgal, never vanity-published mine. All I got is journal articles I've co-written, many of which are on the topic of college students and credit cards.

I also have an essay in this which has NOTHING to do with credit cards...
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 2:43 PM on February 23, 2008

loiseau, you're not a loser. I felt the same way when I read this thread. I mean, I highly doubt anyone's going to want to read research articles on college students and credit cards, and although I dream of writing a series of romance novels, I have had trouble writing even one. Knowing that I'm hanging out in the shadow of Susie Bright and John Scalzi, and even L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg (yes, I've read the Brunching Shuttlecocks site many times) humbles me to bits.

I... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 4:25 PM on February 23, 2008

Yes, I am...I could email you a summary (with reference list) of the findings from several articles I co-wrote.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 4:35 AM on February 24, 2008

Nicky, hope all is well; that's a heck of a thing to be dealing with. And it's wonderful to read such a warm and fuzzy story!
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 6:13 PM on February 19, 2008

I am a Christian (although as a liberal Episcopal with Quaker leanings, there are certain crowds that would insist that I'm not REALLY Christian). And I am saddened and pained in this discussion. Not because there is Christian-bashing in the world, but because I understand exactly WHY there is Christian-bashing in the world, and I sympathize with those Christian-bashers.

Christianity's most holy example (Jesus) hung out with sinners, even loved the people who put him... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 7:14 PM on February 17, 2008

FIGHT! FIGHT!
INNER LIGHT!
KILL, QUAKERS, KILL!

SMASH 'EM! BASH 'EM!
BEAT 'EM SENSELESS!
DO WE HAVE CONSENSUS?

Isn't that Earlham College's cheer?

In other notes, re: Quakerism:

There are three major branches: Friends United Meeting, Friends General Conference, and Evangelical Friends International. Friends General Conference is... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 8:50 AM on February 18, 2008

I love this idea -- but all I have to offer from Middle of Nowhere NW Missouri is:

Cherry Mash (the most sickeningly sweet confection on earth, made in St. Joseph MO)

A stuffed Bobby Bearcat (from Northwest Missouri State University)

and I can't really send the Nut Fries (aka Rocky Mountain Oysters) in the mail.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 8:05 AM on February 18, 2008

SCDB, you may not realize this, but you are not raising the discourse by asserting that "liberals think conservative leaders are evil". You're making a blanket statement that includes me, and although I know myself to be a liberal, I have never called any conservative evil in these pages, nor have I ever gone into ad hominem attack mode. Not to pat myself on the back, just to point out that this generalization is in effect an attack against a whole group of people.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 2:05 PM on February 12, 2008

I have to admit curiosity as to why two people have linked to me. I mean, I don't MIND, but I just can't fathom it, given that I've never been to a meetup and I'm not all that active...
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 11:27 AM on February 11, 2008

languagehat, you can certainly keep me as a contact. I'm flattered! Thanks!
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 5:43 PM on February 11, 2008

Now, my question is this: Would it be possible to actually post this without the NSFW links? Because frankly, I would wonder if that's just being thrown in her for prurient interest -- unlike, say, the Pricasso FPP, because the penile art IS the issue. The issue here is contract law, and if the only links you are including are the indie sex websites, it will look like the whole contract law issue is just an excuse to post LOLboobiefilter. There's a difference between sex-positive and... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 8:16 AM on February 11, 2008

Please. Not another metric for me to become addicted to. I already check my "Marked as favorites" list daily, for which I feel deeeeeep shame.

My name is Lauren, and I am addicted to warm fuzzies.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 2:55 PM on February 7, 2008

Aww, quin, how sweet of you to favorite my comment upthread! You gave me my warm fuzzy for the day!

Actually, I'm relieved to know that we could have a whole "External Validation Junkies Anonymous" meeting here.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 8:45 AM on February 8, 2008

Flatluigi, last time I looked, B was not a number. Sorry to nitpick (not really)...
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 10:27 AM on February 9, 2008

Already did goatse; that was my last stupid question to MeTa. Have successfully resisted "2girls1cup" so far.
Is that REALLY all there is to it?

And yeah, I'm a N00b, but hey, no sense pretending to be someone I'm not...
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 12:51 PM on February 2, 2008

I heard it's "Differently Abled" or "Handicapable."
posted by shmegegge at 4:15 PM on January 31 [+] [!]

Actually, "persons with disabilities" is current usage. The idea is that people have disabilities. They are NOT their disabilities.

There are some individuals with disabilities, however, who argue with this usage, just as there are Native Americans who still call... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 5:03 PM on January 31, 2008

Dios, I agree with you on this. Although the analysis in the sidebarred post may be profound, putting it on the bar might make some conservatives feel this place has a liberal editorial bias, even if none was intended.
I am probably pretty liberal by American standards (and more centrist by European standards), but I can see how "neocon=Nazi" could be considered inflammatory.
Maybe I'm tired of seeing polarization destroy attempts to find mutual respect and a... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 4:12 PM on January 29, 2008

amro, wouldn't worry -- women aren't too keen about douche, either. To quote The Vagina Monologues -- "I don't want my ***** to smell like a fresh meadow. It's like the restaurant washing the fish before they bring it to you."

I'm more disgruntled with the negative rehashings disguised as snark -- especially as they're not addressing Ubu as much as they're trying to get a rise from the women Ubu is apologizing to (with the exception of those who left).... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 6:40 AM on January 28, 2008

One of my first reactions to that thread is, "Do men really stare at women's tits?" I mean, I'm a woman, and I have tits (and have from the time I was in early puberty). I don't recall one instance of someone staring at my tits. Ok, I'm overweight (and have been from the time I was in early puberty). But, I still have tits. And in my ren faire bodice, I don't know how anyone could miss the fact -- yet, nobody has ever stared at my tits.

Is it that this... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 6:29 PM on January 23, 2008

jonmc, when women walk into the middle of "women were made for staring at" conversations, or get "hey baby, you'd look good sitting on my face" in the middle of the street, we don't just feel uncomfortable. Uncomfortable is how you feel if you've committed a social faux pas. We feel more -- devalued and even at times menaced or threatened.

If I could, let me see if I can pull up a story a male acquaintance told me to give you an idea of how... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 7:11 PM on January 23, 2008

Ok, let me rebut the Desmond Morris advice a little -- sociobiology is a discipline fraught with interpretation errors. Even Darwin is guilty of some interpretation error, as in a passage of his journal when he is looking at an obviously negroid Egyptian sarcophagus and describing it as if it is white (I read this passage, and a scholarly analysis of it somewhere, can't remember where) because of a preconceived notion that Egyptian pharaohs MUST be caucasian.

More... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 6:59 AM on January 24, 2008

Sigh...used to be an Central Illinoisian (Shampoo-Banana) years and years ago. My neck of the woods now (Middle of Nowhere, MO) is too far away for a casual meetup. But if my husband and I get over that way, maybe I'll email a holler.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 4:52 PM on January 21, 2008

Another non-anon. My reasons for being non-anon: it never occurred to me to be anonymous. People need each other. (And I guess everyone needs a hug, too). If this makes me a bliss ninny, so be it; the world needs bliss ninnies too.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 5:30 AM on January 15, 2008

Well, it's an odd Christmas for us. My mother died on the 23rd, which is a blessing because she had advanced metastatic cancer which had only been diagnosed 3 weeks ago. The docs didn't tell us HOW advanced until the 22nd when she was admitted to the hospital because her body started shutting down. We will be meeting for our Christmas at 3 today, but it will be rather subdued.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 9:22 AM on December 25, 2007

Update: My family DID get together for Christmas, and it was okay. Mom (who still managed Christmas shopping before she died, due to the magic of the Internet) got me: one power drill (yay! I needed one!), a good set of plain white ceramic serving dishes and a passel of caroling Christmas kitty statues. Mom got my sweetie the Eccleston season of Dr. Who. My sister got me an electric wine bottle opener (!) and got Richard a diamond sharpening steel. My sweetie (voyageria) got me a charming... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 7:51 AM on December 27, 2007

I am looking forward to this coming to the US. I remember cracking up at the literal translation of "je m'en fous et le contrefous" in International Dictionary of Obscenities years ago (what's a "counterfuck?"), and a whole book of untranslatables will be welcome.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 10:42 AM on December 18, 2007

Professor-type here (with tenure). Just gave my last final last night. Grades all turned in for the semester. No more workies for me till after the New Year. Literally -- next week they're tearing out asbestos-laden flooring from my building and they won't let anyone in till after the first of January.
So right now I'm surfing the Net while waiting for the paint to dry in my living room (from the repair job that needed to be done after a car crashed into our house a month ago).... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 9:46 AM on December 14, 2007

Actually, my mom just got diagnosed with metastatic cancer. I dunno about the rest of you guys, but I DO, in fact, need a hug.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 8:00 PM on December 12, 2007

Melissa May, thank you for saying what I've wanted to say all along.

I'm one of those silent females. I've posted twice on the green, not at all on the blue. I'm not a fragile female -- I've survived many, many rejections, rejection letters, etc., etc. But veiled threats, verbal violence (even against Ann Coulter, whom I loathe), and the like have kept me from participating lest I be seen as one of those "castrating man-haters". I don't hate men. I just... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 9:06 AM on November 24, 2007

Wow, I got to the party late. Have a happy one, Jessamyn. I rather like your guts in being a moderator of this ragtag crew.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 6:00 PM on September 5, 2007

Floydd, get off my anus...
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 12:35 PM on May 15, 2007

Forgive me for being a n00b (or hell, pile on if you want), but what or who is GOATSE?
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 2:53 PM on April 20, 2007

Oh. Hell. I AM a N00b. I didn't even think to Google it. And now I wish I hadn't.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 3:05 PM on April 20, 2007

Consider me edumacated now, puke and cry.
posted to MetaTalk by lleachie at 3:14 PM on April 20, 2007