Danni ( 10 years ago )
Well, sir, you never made it clear you were addressing one paacitulrr instance with one paacitulrr set of circumstances, so there was no way for me to know your exact frame of reference. Maybe try making that clear next time?When did I say they had no right to be unhappy? As I pointed out above, yeah, Elyse had a right to vent about the swingers because what they did was inappropriate under those circumstances. I haven't addressed the so-called  underskirt camera  because I don't know all the facts and I need to look at both sides of the issue. I don't get all the sweeping generalizations about  sweating neckbeards,  especially since there's probably just as many generalizations that someone could make about you, that are just as negative. Do you think that's really productive? Or are you just trolling and trying to get people worked up? What will that accomplish?And has been pointed out, isn't it odd that after praising TAM 9 to the rafters as a  safe space  and  good for women, a bunch of people do an about-face? What's your explanation for that?You're no font of reason yourself; your posts overflow with prejudice and emotion. Every time you go on about  sweaty neckbeards  you pound another nail in the coffin of your credibility as a skeptic. Tone down the prejudice and overheated rhetoric and you might actually get somewhere.And quite honestly, the upcoming TAM has a ton of female speakers and I personally know lots of women who are going and are eager to go. So kick and scream all you want that it'll be a sausage fest whine and cry all you want that it will be a sausage fest type it on the internet all you want that it will be a sausage fest. None of that will make it true.Your claims of being able to see the future undermine your skeptic cred, dude.

YhuNnusz ( 10 years ago )
In all seriousness if they grpeod, grabbed, or made otherwise unwanted and inappropriate physical contact, or spoke in a sexually explicit way about what they wanted to do, et alia, then yeah, fine, tell them to fuck off. I would, if they persisted after I told them  no  or made my disinterest clear.If they just said they were swingers, and handed me a card just in case I was interested and wanted to get in touch for some fun, I wouldn't tell them to fuck off. I most likely would just say,  Thanks, but I'm not interested,  and leave it at that. If they persisted, I'd tell them to fuck off and/or get hotel security and definitely inform con management.It's all in the nuance.Look, I'm not saying it's 100% OK to be propositioning people for 3-ways or saying you're obligated to join if asked. But at the same time, treating being offered a card as tantamount to sexual assault, or in your obvious case, as a mortal offense to yourself and/or besmirching your wife's honor or whatever, is to my mind a severe overreaction and unnecessarily melodramatic and histrionic.Not every faux pas has to be handled with vicious blog posts and/or screaming at people to fuck off. Sometimes a firm  No thank you  and a stern expression are all you need. And there are other times when simply ignoring the wrongdoer and/or walking away is all that's necessary.But getting on the drama llama because someone offered your wife a card they didn't grab or grope her, they didn't obscenely proposition her, just offered her a card says to me that you have  no god damn sense of proportion  yourself. Really, just what is so mortally offensive about offering your wife a card?And for completeness' sake I never said it was OK at TAM. You must have misunderstood me; perhaps I wasn't clear. The thrust of my comments is that TAM IS A CONVENTION AND THESE THINGS HAPPEN AT CONVENTIONS, whether they're OK or not. It's best to prepare one's self and be able to handle it with nuance and grace. It's the unfortunate nature of the beast, and as I said in an earlier comment, unless we strap everyone over puberty in a chastity belt, or put everyone on libido-deadening drugs, this isn't going to simply go away because we want it to.And really, how do you know  this never happens to beardos giving talks about super-symmetry at an APS conference ? Or are you indulging in sweeping generalizations and hyperbole? Tut, tut, most unskeptical and illogical, old chap.

Cassie ( 10 years ago )
Well, I've made it clear that I'm personally not 100% on the side of this bleoggr, but I do think they have some valid points to make. And I also feel that the hatred Watson gets is over-the-top, but at the same time, I don't think she's above reproach. And again, I'll point to how Skepchick was falling over itself with praise for the last TAM, but in the last 11 months has done an about-face and has declared that TAM is bad for women and is not a safe space. I'm sorry, but that stinks to high heaven; something is just not right.I think there's wrong being done on BOTH sides of this squabble, and at this point it doesn't matter who's wrong is worse. The problem is we have people on both sides digging in their heels and refusing to budge. There's screwed-up human beings in the mix here (and I don't mean that as a slam to anyone, to my mind being human is to be screwed-up by definition) and lots of emotions at play, including a lot of wounded ego and injured pride on both sides. And yes, prejudice. I do believe there's some sexism going on, but also I think sometimes (not always) folks can see prejudice where possibly none was intended or no ill-will felt. I've seen that with feminists, with pagans/wiccans, with gays, etc. I've dealt with folks who are sexist and racist; I have an acquaintance who is rather sexist, quite racist, but without a trace of homophobia. I've dealt with women who intensely hate men and assume men only want to get laid. Look at Dianic Wiccan Z. Budapest, who raised ire at a pagan gathering for declaring her women-only circles were openly only to those who were  born women,  e.g. no transsexuals allowed. I knew a self-styled feminist who felt that men were menaces to society and should be eliminated, and another who just shrugs and says  We're all messed up in this world,  and invites me over for dinner and bad movies.Despite the rambling, my point is, I've seen it all before. Are sexual assaults being covered up at TAM or other skeptic events? I don't know, I'd like to see both sides of the issue. Are people being sexist? Or overly touchy? A large part of it is in our perceptions.So what if the next TAM is only 18% women? There's still women going and presenting, women who DO feel it's safe space. And I'm waiting to hear anything they have to say about it. It could very well be this is all a temporary aberration and next year it'll be back up again. Who knows? Maybe this will all blow over. Maybe DJ Grothe will resign in disgrace and go to a farm to raise turnips. Maybe Rebecca Watson will be revealed as a liar and end up working at McDonald's. (Not that I think either of them are evil and deserve that, but it's always a possibility.) There's little way of knowing what the future holds.And even if this  new blood  you spoke of once rises up and starts its own string of events, it's not going to be sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. I say it's almost guaranteed that this vaunted  new blood  will suffer it's own internal conflicts and accusations of prejudice (either the same or different ones I'm waiting for shrieks about speciesism if it's held in a hotel that serves meat), because history repeats itself.Because new blood or not, they're still human, and fall prey to human nature, in all its glorious ugliness.

Aejaj ( 10 years ago )
Penelope Cruz and Keira Knightly look fine without meakup (actually, Penelope looks better without it).  Keira just needed a? good dose of lip and eyebrow waxing.

Robert ( 10 years ago )
hey bro, thanks for the cemmonts, was about to consult u for shooting advices. will keep that in mind.the boyfriend with the girl in green next to the poster. don't worry, he thinks i'm taking shots of the poster. was waiting for the girl to turn around.concur on the more daring part. right now only dare to take pics of their backs. will be working on how to take them at the front with their facial expressions.

Ronnie ( 10 years ago )
the rise of incest cases arnuod the world (Columbia, Austria and England), there's a reason why Australia is very adamant about child pornography.Back to your pictures,In regards to the willingness of people from the developing countries to allow to have their pictures taken, it's all about education, and with it, affluence: the more you're informed, the more you're paranoid about stuff, and the more you would rather not have anyone take your pictures. This is why some photographers enjoy taking pictures of people in a rural community or village.But all in all, the pictures you've taken are amazingly astounding.Now, I'm gonna try digging out this one picture I take where there is this drunken guy singing in Hindustan inside the MRT while stationary at Marina Bay

Candra ( 10 years ago )
ugh. i think these things are so suitpd . it's ridiculous  nasty .. i feel lucky that i don't really have any acne problems  yet. :l but i take care of my skin, so  yeah not worried