A gamergate is a reproductively viable female worker ant that is able to reproduce with mature males when the colony is lacking a queen. Most commonly occurring within the primitive species of the poneromorph subfamilies, gamergate females differ from their fellow workers by a combination of elevated fecundity and aggression-related mutilation of competitors' secondary sexual characteristics. Subsequent to their first mating event, however, aggression is no longer needed as females secrete chemical signals that lead the workers to accept their role as reproducers for the colony.

And now you know.

Having Fun with Elvis on Stage is a 1974 live album by Elvis Presley.

The album is unique among Elvis' recordings as it does not contain any actual songs: it consists entirely of byplay recorded between numbers, although Elvis is frequently heard humming or singing "Well...", which during the actual performances led into songs that have been edited out of this recording. Much of the album consists of Elvis making jokes, with the material spliced in a manner that has been described as lacking continuity and nearly devoid of comprehensibility, let alone humor.

I listen to music at work, always have. In the before time, in the long-long-ago, I schlepped 8 CDs back and forth to work every day: a different set every day. But pretty much as soon as I got my first iPod, back in 2003, I stopped listening to albums all the way through. I just put the thing on shuffle and let it run.

Recently I've noticed that, if I have two or more albums from a band which I purchased at the same time or nearly the same time, I can't say which album a song came from. It's just from 'the album I bought last week' or whatever. In my head, an album is starting to be more like a container which I buy and then upend in order to dump a new batch of songs into the iPods' mix; it's no longer something that I think about as its own entity.

But I don't like that; I like the idea that an album is intended to be listened to as a whole. And so I've started listening to albums again. And that's nice.

What about you? Still on albums? Or shuffle? Or playlists?

To me.

"The body was so obese that the actual body fat came off and went straight up the sack and hit the roof material, the rubber roof we have up there and that's what made it go up like it did…It was no negligence involved in it. My guys, we did all we could. Once it started, the grease hit the roof and started the fire, the only thing we could do is dial 911 and get the fire department here,” Hendrix said.

Take a look at the pics and imagine living downwind. Barf.

There were 3 bodies on site at the cremation site at the time of the fire, but the manager says none were damaged in the process.

Whew!

In particular, research suggests that conspiracy theories can be psychologically reassuring in situations like this — seeing conspiracies in randomness or attributing negative events to enemies can restore feelings of control when people encounter unpredictable threats. Until we can help people feel as if the situation is coming under control, we shouldn’t be surprised if they try to regain psychological equilibrium however they can.

That's from the very bottom of an August NYT piece about how conspiracy theories and myths and other misinformation have complicated the job of managing the ebola crisis in Africa.

And now, it's time for our own homegrown conspiracy-minded mythologizing to start infecting our discourse.

Here's a delusional dipshit at WND who thinks there just might be something to all the conspiracy theories that have started fermenting in the dark dank skulls of "conservatives" now that the icky black plague of ebola has arrived in the US:

Recent polls show that there is a crisis of confidence among the people. When the people lose all trust in their government because of the lies they have been told over and over again, theories begin to emerge about all sorts of things. We desperately need someone to rebuild the trust and restore faith in this government. The damage that has been done is almost irreparable.

My fear is that this has all been orchestrated from the very beginning. Who knows? Maybe the current administration needs this to happen so martial law can be declared, guns can be seized and the populace can be controlled. Once that happens … game over.

Yeah, who knows? Wheels within wheels man.

And the comments on that WND article are pure lunacy.

Oh well.

"Self," I thinks to myself, "licorice. Now that is a funny word. What does it mean? Where did it come from?" The lightbulb turns on. "Licor sounds like liquor, eh? But if the front of the word is liquor, what is -ice?" Another lightbulb, way over on the other side of the room, turns on. "In German and English and probably a lot of other languages, the -ish / -isch prefix means something like like ! And we pronounce the -ice in licorice as ish. So, that would mean 'licorice' means 'like liquor'? But that doesn't make any..." Another lightbulb pops on, upstairs. "There are dozens of those old-world herbal tonic liquors with strong licorice and anise flavors: ouzo, anisette, akvavit, Jägermeister, etc.. Could licorice be a reference to those? The English word for the flavor is a reference to a prominent use of the flavoring? A way of saying 'this candy tastes like (that funky herbal) liquor'? As if someone invented a whisky-flavored candy and called it 'Whiskyish' ?"

No!

Licorice comes from Old French (licoresse) via Greek (glukurrhiza) and means "sweet root". It's not a Germanic adjective.

Undaunted, I continue.

"Hey self! What about coward? That's a strange one. Cow, is obvs cow. And -ard could certainly be -herd, as in shepherd (which we pronounce shepard). That would mean coward is cow herder ? OK, obviously it does. But how does that related to being afraid and timid?"

It doesn't, that's how!

"Coward" is from Old French coart: coe which means 'tail' and -art is "...an agent noun suffix denoting one that carries on some action or possesses some quality, with derogatory connotation." So, something like "tail between legs" or "shows his tail" or whatever.

Fail!

But, as a surname (ex. Noel Coward), it does indeed mean "cow herd" (via Old English cuhyrde). English and French collided, and in the aftermath, the name for an honorable profession became an insult. I suppose that's why we needed "cowboy" - "cowards and Indians" just wouldn't sell movie tickets.

Glorious partial success!

I'm getting pretty good at this bread thing.

Here's a light whole wheat bread made from an overnight preferment, with a touch of White Lily flour in it, for ... lightness (or possibly, it's because I ran out of bread flour. who can say). It's light and airy, with a nice nutritious-tasting whole wheat flavor.

I'm gonna go eat a pound of it, now.

In the UK anyway.

Hundreds of thousands of people drinking half a bottle of wine a night are to be put on the first ever drug to help reduce alcohol consumption, under plans announced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Men drinking three pints of beer and women drinking two large glasses of wine per night and who do not cut down within two weeks should be prescribed a new drug, Nice has said.

There are an estimated 750,000 people in the UK who would be eligible for nalmefene who show no overt symptoms associated with their drinking.

Fuck the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Some people have been asking Laurie, my wife, about a new album I have coming out in November. Errhh? I don't have an album coming out, they are probably confused. David Gilmour and Nick Mason have an album coming out. It's called Endless River. David and Nick constitute the group Pink Floyd. I on the other hand, am not part of Pink Floyd. I left Pink Floyd in 1985, that's 29 years ago. I had nothing to do with either of the Pink Floyd studio albums, Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, nor the Pink Floyd tours of 1987 and 1994, and I have nothing to do with Endless River. Phew! This is not rocket science people, get a grip.

Roger Waters is not in Pink Floyd, idiots! Errhh!