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Mike does another good job explaining why dark matter hand waving is not needed when you have science.

http://physicsfromtheedge.blogspot.ca

From https://github.com/atnan/SMJobBlessXPC/issues/7:

Hey Rudy,

It’s refreshing to be proven correct about the nature of your issue. Because I’ve recently discovered a tiny amount of fondness for you (probably brought about by the way you deleted your original posts before responding,) I’m going to try to help you with that problem right here, in this email.

I thought my assessment of your 2 posts was spot on. You can probably go a long way in this world without my help, but for all you know, I might be your current CTO. Or, I may be your next customer. Or in a position to hurt or help your career at some future point.

I’ve learned a lot of lessons in my career in IT. The most important one that I’d like to share with you right now, is “Don’t shit where you eat.”

You act like an immature, testosterone-laden hotshot (maybe), who hasn’t yet learned how to not to behave like a douchebag in public venues.
Or that all actions have consequences.

If I were you, I’d try to get those lessons under your belt sooner, rather than later. You’ll likely find your path through life will be smoother and more secure without an array of brightly burning bridges in your wake.

Cheers!

There is some good news out of this: Rudy apologized later in the thread.

Wow, this Christmas season was crazy. They always are for me, but this one was particularly stressful.

My parents are divorced, so any event (Christmas, birthdays, Easter, etc) has to be done twice. Typically, for Christmas, that means having Christmas Eve at my Mom's, then Christmas day at my Dad's. This year my brother couldn't make it into town until boxing day so everything was delayed a couple days. It becomes a challenge to choose days that work for everyone and that causes me stress. Anyways, we got things mostly sorted out.

One of the days I headed over to my Dad's for our Christmas dinner, mashed potatoes in hand. Just as we are arriving, my dad is leaving. He tells us that he just got a call from 'The Home' and that they said that Gramps was on his last legs. It was time for the family to say our final goodbyes. We all head down to The Home and say goodbye. He was in a coma or something. Not conscious, but seemed to be quite peaceful. I said my goodbye, conscious of the rest of the family watching me.

I'm not really good with death. The rest of my family was pretty upset (Gramps was the patriarch of the family), but I never really feel anything. It's kind of uncomfortable because I feel like I should feel sad or something, but I felt nothing. Gramps was an old man. He was almost 100 years old and lived a good life. So, I'm there with the rest of my family who are crying and hugging and all that, feeling like I should be feeling something.

Gramps died the next day. That turned an already stressful time into an extra stressful time for me. Now, in addition to multiple Christmas dinners, I had a family pub night, prayer ceremony, funeral, reception, burial, and family skating party. Oh, and also my daughter's first birthday. Being that busy really stresses me out, as do changes to plans.

The day after Gramps dies, my wife and daughter got a stomach bug and were puking. The first night, my daughter puked in the bed 5 times. I was mentally exhausted, and now physically exhausted too. My poor wife felt horrid, so I did what I could. Mostly changing sheets and getting drinks. Just as they start feeling better, it was my turn to get the bug. It's been a while since I have puked and I had forgotten how unpleasant it was.

We had planned to have a party for my daughter's first birthday. The poor girl was sick on the day we had planned, so we rescheduled it. The day we rescheduled it to was the day I was sick, so we just ended up cancelling her birthday. (We did get her a cupcake from Crave and put a sparker in it for a mini family ceremony).

After that we did the funeral circuit, then back to work. My wife is also back at work part time now. We have each Grandma take our little girl for one day per week and I have her alone on Sundays. So far it's been going pretty well.

We've also made a change to the sleeping arrangement. My daughter has been waking up like 5 times per night to nurse. As mentioned previously, we all sleep together in one bed. We think that a big reason why she wakes up is because my wife's boob is right there. We decided to have my wife sleep in the other bedroom for a while and I sleep in the bed alone with my daughter. That way someone will be there to comfort her when she wakes, but there is no boob for her to actually feed on. Eventually, she will realize there is no reason to wake up, and we'll all have a wonderful sleep. That's the plan anyways.

I've done 3 nights alone so far. The first 2 went really well. She would wake up as normal (about 5 times), but I could just rub her back or squeeze her foot and she would go back to sleep in a couple minutes. Last night also went pretty well, but around 6:00am she wouldn't stop crying and my wife came in from the other room to take over and nurse.

I'm feeling a little tired from the night duty, but it's not too bad. It seems like a pretty good plan to me, so I hope it works out for us. Between the night duty and daddy-daughter Sundays, I can definitely feel a stronger bond between my daughter and I. It feels really good.

On the dating front, I mentioned in my last entry that I had placed that on hold for a bit. It is still on hold. I just don't have the energy for it right now. I don't think I have the time for it either, although maybe I could make things work. I need to get used to our new schedule now that my wife is back at work and reassess. My wife and I are both pretty tired from the day-to-day and because of that, our sex life is not that great. It's not quite dead bedroom levels, but it would be within spitting distance. It's not my wife's fault. I'm tired too. Most nights I just don't have the energy and I would prefer to spend an hour just sitting on the couch.

Because of the missing intimacy, I really want to start dating again. I would love to have someone that I can spend a few hours with here and there and just be an adult. No baby talk. No baby monitor. No toys strewn all over the floor. I crave the excitement that comes with someone new. That being said, I think I need to improve things between my wife and I first. She's still my best friend, and we are very much in love but since the birth of the baby, the romance part of the relationship has taken a big hit. It feels like my daughter takes everything out of me and at the end of the day, there is nothing left for my wife. I think my wife feels the same. We are just tired. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep the romance in a relationship with a baby?

All in all, the Snow family is doing pretty good. I'm really happy that Christmas is over and we are back on a normal schedule. My daughter is growing up and I'm finally feeling a strong connection with her, and aside from the sex/romance life, my wife and I are great.

-- Snow

H&M slammed for racism after showing black boy in ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’ hoodie

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/h-m-slammed-racism-coolest-monkey-jungle-hoodie-article-1.3744160

BY Christopher Brennan Kate Feldman
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Monday, January 8, 2018, 7:35 PM

Clothing giant H&M has been slammed for racism after featuring a photo of a black boy wearing a “coolest monkey in the jungle” hoodie.

The hoodie, available at the store’s United Kingdom page as a “printed hooded top,” was noticed Sunday by social media users such as blogger Stephanie Yeboah, whose outraged screen capture of the offering went viral.

H&M has been accused of racism after it featured a young black boy in a "coolest monkey in the jungle" hoodie.
(H&M)

H&M, based in Sweden, apologized Monday morning for what many said was an insensitive association between the young model and a hateful slur against black people.

"This image has now been removed from all H&M channels and we apologise to anyone this may have offended," the company told the Daily News in a terse statement from its Stockholm headquarters.

Model recounts alleged sex assault by Terry Richardson

Musician The Weeknd cut ties with the brand after the photo went viral online.

"Woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo," he tweeted. "I'm deeply offended and will not be working with @hm anymore..."

http://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/2018/01/11/mom-h-m-coolest-monkey-ad-model-slams-critics-crying-wolf-tells-them-to-get-over-it.amp.html

RACHEL DOLEZAL RESPONDS TO H&M CONTROVERSY WITH HER OWN 'RACIST' SWEATSHIRT DESIGN

“Am the mum and this is one of hundreds of outfits my son has modelled,” Mango wrote, according to screenshots of the messages. “Stop crying wolf all the time, unnecessary issue here… get over it.”

“If I bought that jumper and put it on him and posted it on my pages, would that make me racist? I get pples opinion, but they are not mine,” she said.

She added, “Everyone is entitled to their opinion about this…I really don’t understand but not coz am choosing not to but because it’s not my way of thinking, sorry.”

H&M was forced to apologize on Monday for an ad featuring a black child in a "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle" sweatshirt. (H&M)

One amusing sidenote: Black boy? Shouldn't that be "black youth"? You can't refer to a black person as a black boy, even if he is a boy!

Those who want to be offended can easily find something to be offended about. Coolest monkey? FFS, the wife and I have referred to our own offspring as little monkeys. And, the grandchildren. The one with protruding ears gets the tag a bit more often than the others, is that racist?

Bella Emberg, aka Blunder Woman (Cooperman's faithful sidekick), has died at the age of 80.

Yes, of course it snows on cesspools, just as it snows everywhere else. So, you have special snowflakes in shitholes. Damn, Trump didn't know that? Now the snowflakes are going crazy, while pretending that they are going crazy in a rose garder? This is some funny shit!

This could get really interesting. About as interesting as a storm in a tea kettle, maybe?

Meanwhile, can we get back to the question? WHY DO WE WANT OR NEED IMMIGRANTS FROM SHITHOLES??????? (Mexico, I'm pointing at you!) If we're seeking immigrants, how 'bout we actively seek immigrants who are healthy, wealthy, wise, educated, or otherwise attractive?

And, oh yeah. Fuck the snowflakes. True, Trump ain't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's sharp enough to understand that all that downtrodden masses bullshit is destructive for our country. We simply don't need a million more welfare recipients, from any country!

NASA, Partners Discuss Power for Future Space Exploration

NASA and its partners will host a news conference at noon EST (9 a.m. PST) Thursday, Jan. 18, at the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, to discuss a recent experiment involving a new power source that could provide the safe, efficient and plentiful energy needed for future robotic and human space exploration missions.

Audio of the news conference and presentation slides will stream live on NASA’s website.

Representatives from NASA, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) Los Alamos National Laboratory and Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) will discuss and take questions on the Kilopower project, which aims to demonstrate space fission power systems technology that has the potential to enable future crewed surface missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Testing began in November 2017 and is expected to continue through March.

Previously: NASA's Kilopower Project Testing a Nuclear Stirling Engine

In rural China, calling someone a 'witch' has serious social consequences

Population structured by witchcraft beliefs (DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0271-6) (DX)

Anthropologists have long argued that fear of victimization through witchcraft accusations promotes cooperation in small-scale societies. Others have argued that witchcraft beliefs undermine trust and therefore reduce social cohesion. However, there are very few, if any, quantified empirical examples demonstrating how witchcraft labels can structure cooperation in real human communities. Here we show a case from a farming community in China where people labelled zhu were thought capable of supernatural activity, particularly poisoning food. The label was usually applied to adult women heads of household and often inherited down the female line. We found that those in zhu households were less likely to give or receive gifts or farm help to or from non-zhu households; nor did they have sexual partnerships or children with those in non-zhu households. However, those in zhu households did preferentially help and reproduce with each other. Although the tag is common knowledge to other villagers and used in cooperative and reproductive partner choice, we found no evidence that this assortment was based on cooperativeness or quality. We favour the explanation that stigmatization originally arose as a mechanism to harm female competitors. Once established, fear that the trait is transmissible may help explain the persistence of this deep-rooted cultural belief.

How 'wi-fi' connects human brains and explains why people have 'gut feelings'

vs.

What Is A Coffee Enema? Goop Is Facing Backlash For Linking To This Potentially Dangerous Cleanse

Fire at home of Moore accuser being investigated for arson

Roy Moore accuser's Gadsden home burns; arson investigation underway

Tina Johnson.