What's messing with your Groove?

[Ominous Gamer]

We had a father and daughter come in a canoe.

Libraries have been closed. I'm now half way across the county working in the emergency operations center. At least the tax payers are covering my lunch.

[Ominous Gamer]

Roads are closed till 8, so I'm stuck here for a bit, making it a full 12 hour shift today.

Fuck.

But I get free dinner!

[Loki]

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/201...kes-go-too-far

Few things are as annoying as the new outrage police.

[Timbuk2]

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/201...kes-go-too-far

Few things are as annoying as the new outrage police.

Agreed, I find it incredibly annoying.

Not sure I agree with the article that people are more sensitive nowadays though. I think it really is that now with social media such comments reach a far, far wider audience, and are much more likely to be snippet-ed out of context.

I did agree with some of the conclusions though:
“There’s a despicable ruthlessness coming from the ‘outrage’ camp which is destroying people’s lives,” says Ronson. “For every little bit of good it does for social justice, it does a terrible amount of harm. Twitter is like the Stasi: a surveillance network which declares war on behaviour that is considered un-Stasi-like.”

Indeed.

[Flixy]

And the people who complain are vocal, while people who don't mind are not. I always hate it when twitter is used as some sort of barometer to gauge opinions in the country.

[Timbuk2]

Another fucking London-wide 24hr tube-strike.

Cockbags.

[Loki]

This is why I live in a town with no public transport of any kind...Ok, not really.

[Aimless]

Another fucking London-wide 24hr tube-strike.

Cockbags.

Stop your whining, you've just struck upon a brilliant business-idea!

Cock-bags: luxury bags for your cocks.

[Aimless]

Hand-crafted from sustainable materials to support our local industries and to revive ancient skills passed down from father to son

[Aimless]

This person:

https://twitter.com/LucyLovelace1

Twitter Link

[littlelolligagged]

http://www.11alive.com/story/news/20...cage/31279835/

This is terrible

[Timbuk2]

This person:

https://twitter.com/LucyLovelace1

Twitter Link

God almighty

[Khendraja'aro]

Agreed, I find it incredibly annoying.

Not sure I agree with the article that people are more sensitive nowadays though. I think it really is that now with social media such comments reach a far, far wider audience, and are much more likely to be snippet-ed out of context.

I did agree with some of the conclusions though:
“There’s a despicable ruthlessness coming from the ‘outrage’ camp which is destroying people’s lives,” says Ronson. “For every little bit of good it does for social justice, it does a terrible amount of harm. Twitter is like the Stasi: a surveillance network which declares war on behaviour that is considered un-Stasi-like.”

Indeed.

However, there's also the opposite side to be considered - namely, that social media serves as a feedback loop for the more extreme opinions who think that they can spew forth their shit nilly-willy.

Case in point: A 17-year old lost his apprenticeship over a public Facebook reply to a radio's news post where he disliked foreigners. Oh well, one might say, it's a matter of opinion, ain't it? Well, the radio's post was about using a water hose to cool down asylum seekers, coupled with the picture of a cute 7-year old girl. His reply was that they should have used a flamethrower instead of a water hose.

I don't really have much compassion for idiots like those.

[Hazir]

Was in Stockholm for the weekend. The city was nicer than I remembered it, has a ridiculous number of beggars though and I'm sad to say yet another phone was stolen from me. Probably at the ferry pier.

What I really liked was the Vasa Museum, it's kinda cute how the Swedes made such a massive fuckup into a tourist attraction.

[Aimless]

What! You shoulda said, we could've showed you many more fuckups

[wiggin]

A good friend of ours was killed when a semi hit her car during her morning commute a few days back. Just unfathomable - probably one of the sweetest people I know, and she leaves behind three young kids and an absolute gentleman of a husband. The only slight consolation is that they were so deeply loved that people have already signed up to bring them meals through the end of January, and a fundraiser started less than a day ago has racked up $16k at last count. Still, an unspeakable tragedy that I haven't quite figured out how to process.

[Timbuk2]

Awful news Wig.

[GGT]

That sucks, wiggin. I didn't notice your signature until now. Perhaps you added that after the death of your friend?

[Loki]

http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/12776468-story
http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/12913457-story

[Flixy]

http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/12776468-story
http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/12913457-story

Not trying to be an asshole here, but I find it somewhat odd when any shooting us elevated to major news just because it's on a campus. Correct me if I'm wrong but over there a lot of campuses include housing, right? The first link does mention it's at an apartment complex and appears to be what would otherwise be a 'normal' murder (in the sense it's an escalated fight). Given the number of people living on campus and prevalence of guns in your society it's hardly surprising people get shot every now and then. Or to put it bluntly, why is the first story any different from the 30 murders and 162 injuries by firearms per day you have going on?

Though the second one says nothing about what actually happened so I can't comment on that.

[Loki]

College students should be better than the general population. They're generally from a better background, are smarter, have more to lose, etc. They're generally not in long-term relationships either. That rules out most factors associated with murder. I've never seen a loud argument in a student union, let alone a gun fight.

Also, one of those took place on a campus that's part of my university system (which led to several phone calls from family; news reporters really need to learn to be more specific).

[GGT]

College students should be better than the general population. They're generally from a better background, are smarter, have more to lose, etc. They're generally not in long-term relationships either. That rules out most factors associated with murder.

That might be your impression, but it's not necessarily real. College students aren't any "better" than society at large. Students from private schools or privileged backgrounds are often the driving force behind Fraternity hazing, drinking deaths, and campus date rapes.

I've never seen a loud argument in a student union, let alone a gun fight.

Maybe you've become a cloistered academic?

[Loki]

They are better. 18-22-year-olds in this country are responsible for a huge portion of violent crime, and students (who are in that age group) commit major crimes at a very small rate. There's a reason these stories made the news. Underage age drinking is probably the only crime that's committed at a disproportionate rate on college campuses.

[GGT]

"Most" crimes are committed by males. Does that mean the human male species is inferior?

[Flixy]

College students should be better than the general population. They're generally from a better background, are smarter, have more to lose, etc. They're generally not in long-term relationships either. That rules out most factors associated with murder. I've never seen a loud argument in a student union, let alone a gun fight.

You've never seen a loud argument between students?

I do agree they're far less likely to be involved with (violent) crime and the kind of murders that go with that, but it's not like murders in the more domestic area are far more rare among higher educated people is it? Besides, you have 40+% getting at least an associate degree, and 1/3 getting at least a bachelor, so it's not like they're that far from the general population. You do make a good point about long term relations though, but then again these people are younger so more hormones and alcohol, which together are a great mix for arguments. Anyway, wroth that many people living on campus it's not surprising there's a murder every now and then. It's not nice, but it can be expected.

Oh come to think of it, a plus is that students worth mental health issues likely get easier/better treatment.

Also, one of those took place on a campus that's part of my university system (which led to several phone calls from family; news reporters really need to learn to be more specific).

Well, glad you're alright!

[Loki]

You've never seen a loud argument between students?

In a student union. Students are smart enough to avoid doing things that can jeopardize their careers. Fighting in a dorm or a bar is one thing. Fighting in front of faculty and/or staff: not a good idea.

Oh come to think of it, a plus is that students worth mental health issues likely get easier/better treatment.

Exactly. Not only is there a massive selection effect in terms of who goes to college, but colleges spend a large amount of money to make sure students are at least moderately taken care of. As best as I could tell, both of these colleges are commuter schools (i.e. a vast majority of students live off-campus), which removes many of those advantages.

[Steely Glint]

Taboola.

[BalticSailor]

It appears I have somehow managed to kill a C18 prep chromatography column - the C18 compound which gives this column the properties necessary for its operation, is washing out of it at an alarming rate. This means, shortly it will turn into an ordinary silica column, which is not suitable for the same applications. Also, this being a preparative chromatography column, as opposed to the more commonly encountered analytical variety, I think I've set a personal record for the most expensive piece of lab equipment destroyed.

[wiggin]

You've never seen a loud argument between students?

I do agree they're far less likely to be involved with (violent) crime and the kind of murders that go with that, but it's not like murders in the more domestic area are far more rare among higher educated people is it? Besides, you have 40+% getting at least an associate degree, and 1/3 getting at least a bachelor, so it's not like they're that far from the general population. You do make a good point about long term relations though, but then again these people are younger so more hormones and alcohol, which together are a great mix for arguments. Anyway, wroth that many people living on campus it's not surprising there's a murder every now and then. It's not nice, but it can be expected.

I think it's important to have some perspective here. The vast majority of violent crimes in this country happen in very small groups of people. There are obviously the high profile murders from nutjobs, cops, hit men, domestic, and the like, but those are relatively rare. Most happen in small groups of poor men with criminal records, often related to drug or gang violence. In fact, there are some academics who have started modeling murder and other violent crimes as transmissible diseases, in the same way that we model epidemiology. You get similar clusters, and similar transmission from one to another based on location or social ties.

This implies that it's entirely believable that enormous sections of the US populace are rarely affected by murder or violent crimes to a substantial degree, and then only peripherally. The closest I've come (terrorism and war not included) would be a Vietnamese organized crime hit on my street growing up, but the target was a boss, not a foot soldier. It's not like Americans spend their days dodging bullets... except for a small proportion who kinda do.

That doesn't mean that violent crime isn't a very pressing issue in the US, or that we should just ignore it because it only affects 'those' people. But it's hardly unbelievable that violence on e.g. college campuses would be incredibly rare. Even rapes on college campuses - which do not appear to happen at a substantially higher rate than among similarly aged non-students - tend to be of the 'date rape' and not the 'dark alley' variety.

It appears I have somehow managed to kill a C18 prep chromatography column - the C18 compound which gives this column the properties necessary for its operation, is washing out of it at an alarming rate. This means, shortly it will turn into an ordinary silica column, which is not suitable for the same applications. Also, this being a preparative chromatography column, as opposed to the more commonly encountered analytical variety, I think I've set a personal record for the most expensive piece of lab equipment destroyed.

That's the worst you've managed? Unless it's a truly enormous prep column, I've easily got you beat. I have broken a number of pretty delicate load cells, costing well into the five digits to replace. I'm sure there are some other expensive things I've done before that are on par - generally with absurdly expensive bits of equipment that needed servicing after I used them. My only consolation is that these things just happen from time to time, and you have to roll with the punches. I am curious how you managed to cleave the C18 strands off an HPLC column, though!

[Loki]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/us...y-college.html

And another one.

Not sure how thorough this is (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...d_States#2010s), but we average maybe 1-2 college shootings (with fatalities) per year. Meanwhile, there have been 3 in the last week.