The Watering Hole: Tuesday October 21, 2014 – Sex, Bats, and Snakes

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Lets go with the offbeat today.

Are male brains wired to ignore food for sex?

Why do people risk infection from bat meat?

 

Amazing Video: Inside the World’s Largest Gathering of Snakes

 

58 thoughts on “The Watering Hole: Tuesday October 21, 2014 – Sex, Bats, and Snakes”

  3. Mother Nature is definitely in charge and one needs to listen…

    Nepal vows new rules after worst trekking disaster

    Nepalese officials say they plan to introduce new rules, improve weather forecasts and better monitor the movement of trekkers following the Himalayan country’s worst hiking disaster last week.

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  5. Bats are cool and extremely useful to the natural world, though not always in ways that humans might prefer. If I recall correctly, certain bat species are considered to be a natural reservoir for both rabies and ebola viruses — fairly good reasons for humans to use caution when encountering bats, reasons to simply leave them alone ‘out there’ in the natural world. No need to fear, but admire from a distance.

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  6. Televangelist Pat Robertson: Christians in same-sex marriage states should flee to the border

    Right-wing televangelist Pat Robertson has claimed that Christians should flee the 32 states that currently recognise same-sex marriage.

    The right-wing TV host, who runs the Christian Broadcasting Network, made the claim on his show, The 700 Club.

    He said of a Christian couple who run a wedding chapel in Idaho: “If I were that couple I’d get ahead of the curve.

    “Get on an airplane and leave Idaho or get in your car and drive across the border into Montana.

    “Get out of that state and if need be close your chapel down. Get ahead of it because this is outrageous.

    I guess he doesn’t think the rapture is coming soon enough for the anti gay marriage folks.

    If you go to this link, use your cursor and highlight several paragraphs. Each paragraph has its own pastel color.

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  7. Marco Rubio (FLaccid) announced that he plans to introduce legislation that would temporarily ban U.S. visas for nationals from African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak.

    Rubio, after self-hydrating, said he plans to offer the legislation when the Senate returns to work in November. Can’t you just feel the sense of urgency?

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  8. Conservative Provocateur Creates Fake LGBT Group To ‘Expose’ Voter Fraud

    James O’Keefe, perhaps best known as the undercover pimp who targeted the community organizing group ACORN, has once again been trying to target Democratic candidates with undercover schemes, this time in Colorado. Last week, he and two collaborators tried to bait field staffers working on the reelection campaign for Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) into approving voter fraud using Colorado’s new vote-by-mail system.

    This year will be the first time Colorado voters have the opportunity to vote in a general election by mail. All registered voters will receive a ballot in the mail that they simply fill out and return. On several occasions, O’Keefe and his collaborators approached Udall campaign staffers to suggest that they fill out these ballots for other people.

    We mailed our filled-in ballots yesterday. Neither ballot had a single vote for any Republican, also both voted against proposition to define fertilized egg as a person and FOR a public school-funding proposition.

    Two votes for Udall from the same address, ergo voter fraud. Right?

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    • “On several occasions, O’Keefe and his collaborators approached Udall campaign staffers to suggest that they fill out these ballots for other people.”
      Isn’t there a law in Colorado that defines this as attempted or conspiracy to commit election fraud? Hence, Jimmy the Snake should be arrested and sent to prison.

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      • Colorado is the home of Tom Tancredo, Ken Buck, and who knows how many other unscrupulous wingnuts, so apparently there’s not a whole lot of illegality implicit in the electoral “process.”

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        • Indeed. They’re worried about someone stealing an election. (Ironic given that Voter ID disenfranchisement could have that effect).

          But think about the conspiracy that would have to take place to steal an election. One person acting alone, simply can’t get it done in the number of hours the polls are open. And the penalty is $10,000 and 5 years.

          So do you risk that to do something with no guarantee that you’ll succeed? And to guarantee success, you need to convince a whole lot of other people to risk $10,000/5 years to do the same thing. And again, with no easy guarantee of the outcome. You don’t know going into an election how close it’s going to be.

          The real fraud is from the special interest groups preying upon the feeble minded to think voter ID solves a real problem rather than actually create one.

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  9. Financial guru Dave Ramsey: Jesus was wrong to say rich people can’t go to heaven

    The financial self-help author Dave Ramsey dismissed as heretics Christians who took Jesus at his word on his famous quote about rich people, camels, and heaven.

    The bestselling author and real estate investor appeared on Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” program this week to promote his latest book, “The Legacy Journey: A Radical View of Biblical Wealth and Generosity.”

    (snip)

    Ramsey complained that liberal Christians accurately quoted Matthew 19:24 to support progressive taxation and other efforts to address wealth inequality.

    “The biggest one I get from folks based on their political agenda, and not really their biblical knowledge, is that if a camel can’t get through the eye of a needle, then a rich man can’t get into heaven,” Ramsey said.

    The guilt rationalization is strong in this one, young Luke!

    RWNJs have to rewrite everything they come across. The Bible, the Constitution, history, or anything else that refutes them.

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    • So — since Ramsey’s obviously basing his analysis on his own “political agenda” I assume he’s saying that a rich man WILL get to heaven IF he can show where a camel gets through the eye of a needle?

      That’s a very good example of right wing “logic.”

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    • If this is the passage to which he refers…

      Matthew 19:24
      And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

      …then he’s not quoting it correctly. Jesus didn’t say it couldn’t be done, he just said that one scenario was more likely than the other.

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    • It is Texas and he will be elected (sigh).
      TX will never secede – they can’t exist without the Federal government so detested (see money for medical assistance for Ebola).

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  15. The rightwhiners first family on display. One thing sticks out to me. 5 year old Red Fuming Nitric Acid, or whatever they call him, was apparently in the Hummer while his mom and uncle and grandparents were busy drinking beer and getting in fights. What kind of parents and/or grandparents take a small child to a beer bash?

    Back in the days when I partied a bit (or a lot) more than I probably should have we old drunks had a very simple policy if someone showed up with a kid. We would tell them to leave and either find a baby sitter or just stay home. Locking the kid in the car with the designated driver was not enough because there was still a risk that said kid would end up exposed to adult situations beyond his/her understanding and might even end up getting hurt. If you want to get drunk in front of a small child at home I won’t stop you but you are not going to get drunk in front of a small child in my home or the home of anyone I choose to get drunk with.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/palin-brawl-police-audio

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  16. From the LA Times:

    “A poll finds 41% of Americans worry they or their family will be ‘exposed’ to the Ebola virus, up from 32% two weeks ago.”

    Sheeple gettin’ ready.

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    • I’m part of a soaping forum on FB, and there are a few soapers freaking out about ebola and shea butter (which comes from West Africa).

      It’s pissing me off, because they tend to demonstrate typical resistance to facts, as well as believing that all opinions must be heard and respected — fact-free or not.

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        • I was tempted to tell them they COULD get ebola from shea butter — if they went to one of the affected countries and bought it from a woman running a suspiciously high fever, who steeped her shea butter in the bodily fluids of ebola victims.

          But I’m just too nice these days. I guess.

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  21. So I got another one of those “This is Windows and we’ve been monitoring a problem with your PC” phone calls. So I decided to have some fun with him. He stepped me through going to a particular web site (with a very suspicious address that has nothing to do with Microsoft, Windows, or anything else I’ve ever heard of – it was just a bunch of letters). I took a lot of his time by pretending to mess up various steps.

    He asked me to verify I was on the website, and asked me to read to him what I saw. (I never went to the website.) My response to him was “This website is being investigated by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation for suspicious activities.”

    Click. My ever-so-helpful Windows friend hung up on me.

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