Small update re: my condition. The ultrasound didnt find a hernia, although it was an amazing amount of fun (sarcasm) having some unknown lady groping me for 30 minutes and leaving me with a small towel to deal with the literal POOL of liquid that they use to make the sensor work.

The right testicle has went down in swelling some, but it is still about 2-3 times it's normal size and it is uncomfortable sitting for any length of time.

I'm almost done with the medication they gave me (doxycycline because they think it got infected and prescription aleve, which is nigh useless for the aching pain) and I am due to go back on the 21st for a re-evaluation.

If the swelling doesn't go down more, they may want to discuss methods of draining the excess fluid. Not looking forward to that. Hopefully I will be back soon, bear with me.

Cute. Also fairly weird. This will either be really good or slightly uncomfortable.

Also I am not sure I really wanted to know about Henry Darger, but now I do.

*sigh* typical white man response..... Not to be judgy, but stop talking about your people getting murdered by white police. Stop being negative. It makes me uncomfortable. Just stop. But we'll keep murdering your people. But not to be judgy or anything, just stop. *rolls eyes*

I thought parts of it were cringeworthy, but that that was entirely intentional. Sometimes that cringe is precisely what a comic is going for.

Honestly, I don't remember any of these being a "roast" to the degree that this one was. Thinking back on them in Obama's era, all I can remember is the mic-drop moment when Obama turned the tables and said Dick Cheney was the worst president in his memory, and Keegan-Michael Key being Obama's anger translator. Obama could certainly handle light/moderate jabs directed at him, but I don't remember that being done much if any at these specific events. Maybe it was and I just don't remember it.

Anyway, I think that saying that this upped the ante and went for the jugular significantly more than in the past is almost certainly correct. But that doesn't make it "bad" or "disrespectful" or whatever. I don't care that Trump didn't attend, even though presidents "traditionally" do. Hell, given the whole "fake news" shtick that he is trying to sell, he should have barred any White House staff from attending -- even/especially Press Secretary Sanders.

BUT, then after the event he should have simply said that he didn't watch it and that he doesn't give a rats ass what was said there instead of sulking about it on twitter. Acting all offended just makes him look like a little bitch (and that goes for all the other R's that have whined also).


Anyway, I guess overall I thought her bit was a good but not great set. Doing that material with that mixed audience guarantees that there's going to be some uncomfortable silences and crickets, but she clearly anticipated and managed that quite well. Roasts aren't really my thing, but given the machismo image that Trump tries to push it may well have been the perfect way to bait him into looking like a crybaby in his inevitable response. Mission accomplished?

You can record anything, but please do not pretend to be performing it live if you are not. And if you are forced to pretend, do it in a way that makes it obvious you are pretending, or be prepared to be labeled a fraud and scum of the earth.

If the performances in the video are billed as "celebrity dancing & karaoke" all is perfectly fine.

I find records with one person recognizably singing more than once at the same time weird and uncomfortable, yet hundreds of layers of guitar or synth or percussion noise (by one or two persons) do not faze me. No idea why.

This is all obviously a very pre-sequencer approach to music which must sound really stupid to current computerized generations.

For those who are region blocked
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/snl-depicts-the-uncomfortable-conversation-about-aziz-ansari-in-this-hilarious-sketch/
or
https://youtu.be/Qp2JEjH1i5Q

I don't wanna grow up, I'm a toys R us kid.

I've gotta say, people have vastly varied ideas what 'growing up' means.

Adopting responsibility can happen in childhood....some of us are raised that way.

Women are at least as good at being irresponsible children as men, perhaps they are infantile about it less often. I think he needs better data.

Women at my wife's job are paid less than men. Women with 10+ years experience and seniority are paid the same as entry level men with zero experience, but entry level women are not paid the same. There is no other factor, these new men haven't shown their skills or personality at all when they get hired at the same pay rate as their established, competent boss.

My experience differs from his gender conclusions at every turn, and I found his estimations of women horrendously dismissive and wrong.

Physical conflict is off limits to women? Somebody better tell Rousey.

The market doesn't define positions, the boss does. If a position has certain responsibilities, it's the same job no matter who's doing it. It doesn't become a lesser job because the employee has no penis.

There's actually plenty of evidence that treating workers with respect and empathy is beneficial to both retention and work quality. He's flat wrong on that.

She's totally wrong to imply a right to not be uncomfortable for anyone. No one has that right. She's also a fairly bad interviewer.

No, you miss the point.
Distinctions are important.
It matters hugely, recognizing the difference between violent rape and an uninvited shoulder rub, just as it matters making the distinction between a spanking and attempted murder....not just legally but rationally.

I wholeheartedly disagree that making those distinctions about gradients of wrongness in any way denies the ability to see that both are wrong.....except for the brainless who can't do both.

Public shaming IS a sentence, one that harms your job, finances, family, and future. I have no problem with fair public shaming, but lumping a bad date in with real rapists is as fair as lumping you in with kidnappers and murderers because you slapped a disobedient child's behind.

He denies he did anything to intentionally make her uncomfortable or pressure her, which is what she accuses him of.

NO SIR. THAT IS YOUR POSITION, you said until overboard sentencing becomes a problem, there's no distinction needed between bad sex and forced sex.
Yes, it's not cool, but it's also not abuse unless it is.

If, like this woman, she #metoo'd that you were an octopus that ignored all her nonverbal signals to stop, your denial wouldn't mean much, and most people would just call you a rapist....just like his denial means nothing to you and you're more than willing to let him be lumped in with rapists and abusers.

You lumped them together in your post about how making distinctions is out of fashion. It's like you said stop eating broccoli, sugar, and bacon, then balked when I said broccoli is good for you, you only meant deep fried candied broccoli. Come on.

Don't expect me to read what you mean and ignore what you write...I absolutely hate that.
Don't be sexually aggressive...do be weird.

Yes, distinctions matter immensely.

No, grading offences is proper, otherwise you put rape and going Dutch on a date at the same level because they both upset the date.

If the person goes on a long date with you, accepts an invitation to your bed, undressed and engages in sex, asks you to slow down a bit (which means continue, slower, which you do), and continues, sleeps over, and only later complains, maybe relationships aren't for HER. Her date did absolutely nothing wrong. Verbal cues trump non verbal cues in the dark 99.9999999% of the time....pretty much any time there's no gun to your head.

I also fully support women's right to speak about their experiences, good or bad, but in this climate, to lump him into the #metoo movement, which I also fully support, is wrong and unfair to him and the movement, imo.
Tell your girlfriends , write a blog, make an internet list of bad local lays, but don't exaggerate a bad date, or maybe even just bad consensual sex into the worst thing ever (edit:and don't then call the media to spread and multiply your exaggeration in attempt to ruin a media career) .....and absolutely, if you're uncomfortable, forchristsakejustdontputhisdickinyourmouththen....instead use your mouth to say "no thanks, I'm going to leave now" and call an uber.

Bob's pretty much right, by the only numbers that matter (electoral votes). Is that a stupid system, that both sides should be clamoring to resign to the scrap heap? Yes. But they aren't, in spite of the D's getting screwed by it twice in very recent memory, and even the R "beneficiaries" have had to try to deal with some uncomfortable infighting and internal strife as a result (cue world's tiniest violin).

I don't think Trump is some sort of super genius and that he "played the game under the existing rules" better than Hillary or anything. He won by a technicality, just as you say -- but the mere fact that anyone can actually win by such a technicality ought to be an unbearable affront to our very conceptions of Democracy and Government. Instead, entirely too many of us seemed too complacent and apathetic to give a fuck, moments later. I really wish I could muster some surprise at this point.

I don't agree with Bob's other assertion that Trump stands a great chance of beating anyone that gets the D nod in 2020. On the other hand, 2016 proved the old adage about what happens when we assume.

I do completely concur with (both of) you that President Oprah isn't the answer.

@ChaosEngine

I forgot to acknowledge your comments about judging people by their looks.

I didn't mean to say that these women are dumb or unqualified. I have no idea.

I know really good looking people who struggle because they are typecast a certain way or are treated differently in uncomfortable ways because of their beauty.

It can warp you, extreme beauty, the way you can be dismissed as facade only, or lionized when you haven't actually done anything.

I really admire people who find a way to navigate their looks and are able to come fully into themselves.

That is a true statement for any challenge in life -- beauty, ugliness, shortness, alopecia, baldness, dwarfism. I'm looking at you, Peter Dinklage. You are a rock star.

It defies logic to think that this group of women is just a random sample. I didn't need to do any research to know this company ignores competent, talented women with gun skills and normal looks for women who are glossy. Are the beautiful women also talented with gun skills? Doesn't matter. Because I am already creeped out.

Creeped out isn't the best word. I am really enjoying saying it though. Gitaigo: Onomatopoeia that describes states of being, not sounds

I won't remember it, but what a great word.

@bareboards2, I get where you're coming from.

I think one would have to be naive in the extreme not to admit that women especially are discriminated on based on their looks (both positively and negatively).

That said, I do find it uncomfortable judging people on their looks. Neither you nor I know these women; some of them might be there purely as eye candy, but they could equally just be really good at what they do.

As a straight white male, this is really a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. Comment on their looks, and I'm either objectifying them or assuming competency based on their looks. Don't say anything and I'm giving tacit approval to employers deliberately choosing women based on their looks ("hey man, you hire *whoever* you want.... nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

note: this is not a complaint... straight males are in this situation because we put ourselves here.

Now... all that said: I think you're almost certainly right about THIS company. Their instagram is pretty damning in that respect.

Your video, Vox: Why cities are full of uncomfortable benches, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

From what I’ve read, he always “asked permission” (his words), but it seems like that was a formality and it was gonna happen anyway.

Either way, if someone is clearly uncomfortable with what you’re doing.. ok, it’s technically legal, but it’s still pretty fucked up.