by Fearman May 24, 2008
Get the the kiss that keeps on kissing mug.1) In chemistry, a term used to describe any molecule held together by a chain of carbon atoms.
2) Used to describe the characteristics of a living system (for example a creature's body or an entire habitat) consisting of smoothly running interacting parts and shaped by the processes of Darwinian evolution.
3) As an analogy in the creative process, used to describe a work such as a novel or movie script made in such a way that the various parts developed as they were written/painted/whatever, one from another, rather than sticking rigidly to a preconceived plan.
4) In popular culture, a term applied in line with the most rabid intentions of New Age pseudoscience, ultimately from the mouths of people who would like to have scientists burned at the stake. Much favoured by people who use chemical as an unqualified snarl word. Artificial fertilisers are decried as poison, despite the fact that they contain the same chemical compounds that plants derive from "natural" fertilisers; if these compounds were real poisons, our biosphere would have been in serious doo-doo long ago. Anything coming from a lab is allegedly ipso facto evil and foul, even if its molecular structure is identical to that of compounds found in Nature. Genetic engineering is seen as the foul left hand of Satan, based on arguments that are about as rational as those for the existence of the fellah downstairs, too. Organic farming is held by its propagandists to be the farming of the future ... and it might be, at least if the human population of the Earth drops by 99 percent. Typical stock in trade arguments from the "organic" movement, as elsewhere in the witchypoo "alternative" movement, consist of appeals to fear, to irrationality and to conspiracy theories about Big Business ... but, such has been the success of the propaganda campaign over the last few decades, nobody seems to subject "organic" produce to the same safety standards. "Organic" production requires far more acreage than conventional farming methods to produce the same yield. It is typically shilled for by celebrities, who after all often have more money than sense and can afford to buy the stuff, and much beloved of fad dieters who don't eat that much anyway. All in all, one of the movements that make one genuinely fearful for the future of our technological civilisation.
2) Used to describe the characteristics of a living system (for example a creature's body or an entire habitat) consisting of smoothly running interacting parts and shaped by the processes of Darwinian evolution.
3) As an analogy in the creative process, used to describe a work such as a novel or movie script made in such a way that the various parts developed as they were written/painted/whatever, one from another, rather than sticking rigidly to a preconceived plan.
4) In popular culture, a term applied in line with the most rabid intentions of New Age pseudoscience, ultimately from the mouths of people who would like to have scientists burned at the stake. Much favoured by people who use chemical as an unqualified snarl word. Artificial fertilisers are decried as poison, despite the fact that they contain the same chemical compounds that plants derive from "natural" fertilisers; if these compounds were real poisons, our biosphere would have been in serious doo-doo long ago. Anything coming from a lab is allegedly ipso facto evil and foul, even if its molecular structure is identical to that of compounds found in Nature. Genetic engineering is seen as the foul left hand of Satan, based on arguments that are about as rational as those for the existence of the fellah downstairs, too. Organic farming is held by its propagandists to be the farming of the future ... and it might be, at least if the human population of the Earth drops by 99 percent. Typical stock in trade arguments from the "organic" movement, as elsewhere in the witchypoo "alternative" movement, consist of appeals to fear, to irrationality and to conspiracy theories about Big Business ... but, such has been the success of the propaganda campaign over the last few decades, nobody seems to subject "organic" produce to the same safety standards. "Organic" production requires far more acreage than conventional farming methods to produce the same yield. It is typically shilled for by celebrities, who after all often have more money than sense and can afford to buy the stuff, and much beloved of fad dieters who don't eat that much anyway. All in all, one of the movements that make one genuinely fearful for the future of our technological civilisation.
Cobra venom is an organic molecule.
The book just developed organically.
If your carrots are organic, are you sure you have washed off ABSOLUTELY ALL the horse-shit?
The book just developed organically.
If your carrots are organic, are you sure you have washed off ABSOLUTELY ALL the horse-shit?
by Fearman August 31, 2007
Get the organic mug.Indirect breach of the fourth wall at the end of the movie "Fight Club". When the plot comes around to the opening scene again after two hours of flashback, the Narrator (Edward Norton) states he "still hasn't anything to say", and Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) refers to this as "flashback humour".
by Fearman December 23, 2007
Get the flashback humour mug.Local term for a digital counter with a green readout submerged in the River Liffey immediately upstream of O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, Ireland some time in the mid-1990s and intended to count away the remaining seconds to the start of the year 2000 CE. Within a matter of weeks it was clogged up with scum and dirt, broke down and had to be removed.
by Fearman December 10, 2007
Get the chime in the slime mug.1. A particularly enjoyable or important occasion.
2. The day a woman menstruates.
3. In the Harry Potter series, the day one of the students receives a howler, typically in the Main Hall in front of everyone else.
2. The day a woman menstruates.
3. In the Harry Potter series, the day one of the students receives a howler, typically in the Main Hall in front of everyone else.
The launch of one's first novel is a red letter day in any novelist's life.
She had her first red letter day last week. She spent all day sulking in her bedroom.
Another red letter day for poor old Ronald.
She had her first red letter day last week. She spent all day sulking in her bedroom.
Another red letter day for poor old Ronald.
by Fearman November 11, 2007
Get the red letter day mug.1. Generally a deeply dysfunctional state of mind in which one is in love with oneself, often at a rather superficial level. From the Greek myth of Narcissus, who wasted away out of unrequited love for his own reflection in a pool.
2. More specifically described at its worst as Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or NPD. NPD is characterised by the following:
Refusal to admit that one is narcissistic. The horror author Stephen King once wrote that alcoholics build defence mechanisms like the Dutch build dykes. Narcissists are kind of the same, except that compared to your average narcissist, your average alcoholic is a rank amateur.
An exaggerated sense of self-importance, with the narcissist often talking about private, professional or other interpersonal relationships in which they are involved as though nobody else really existed.
A preoccupation with fantasies of pure or unlimited power, beauty, "authenticity", intelligence, love and so on. Has an urgent need for praise.
A tendency to read what people say out of context, or more likely without any context, and a disability to spot when they are being taken for a ride.
Belief on the narcissist's part that people vastly more gifted than they are (in whatever respect) are their natural equals, and a snobbish contempt for anything less.
A sense of entitlement; narcissists are typically manipulative, haughty, arrogant and generally destructive in their relationships with others.
A narcissist may appear overly anxious to show respect for the property and privacy of those they cannot profitably step on. Towards those under them in any social hierarchy (employees, offspring, subservient spouses, etc.,), they are shamelessly controlling, frequently treating such other peoples' property as their own to use or discard, on a more trivial level barging intrusively into their conversations, and so on. Narcissists treat those below them, or loyal to them, as extentions of their own egos.
Lack empathy and tends to treat other people like dirt, when they can get away with it.
Project a sense of immense effort, as though eternally hoping that some teacher will award them an A for it; at the same time their work is frequently slipshod and they secretly delegate to social subordinates.
Narcissists show no need to take any responsibility for the untoward results of their own actions, frequently going to ingenious extremes to weasel their way out of anything of the sort. After all, anything else would first require them to admit, as more than some petty platitude, that they aren't perfect.
Frequently project their own shortcomings onto others, especially whose whom they can control or of whom they are envious.
2. More specifically described at its worst as Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or NPD. NPD is characterised by the following:
Refusal to admit that one is narcissistic. The horror author Stephen King once wrote that alcoholics build defence mechanisms like the Dutch build dykes. Narcissists are kind of the same, except that compared to your average narcissist, your average alcoholic is a rank amateur.
An exaggerated sense of self-importance, with the narcissist often talking about private, professional or other interpersonal relationships in which they are involved as though nobody else really existed.
A preoccupation with fantasies of pure or unlimited power, beauty, "authenticity", intelligence, love and so on. Has an urgent need for praise.
A tendency to read what people say out of context, or more likely without any context, and a disability to spot when they are being taken for a ride.
Belief on the narcissist's part that people vastly more gifted than they are (in whatever respect) are their natural equals, and a snobbish contempt for anything less.
A sense of entitlement; narcissists are typically manipulative, haughty, arrogant and generally destructive in their relationships with others.
A narcissist may appear overly anxious to show respect for the property and privacy of those they cannot profitably step on. Towards those under them in any social hierarchy (employees, offspring, subservient spouses, etc.,), they are shamelessly controlling, frequently treating such other peoples' property as their own to use or discard, on a more trivial level barging intrusively into their conversations, and so on. Narcissists treat those below them, or loyal to them, as extentions of their own egos.
Lack empathy and tends to treat other people like dirt, when they can get away with it.
Project a sense of immense effort, as though eternally hoping that some teacher will award them an A for it; at the same time their work is frequently slipshod and they secretly delegate to social subordinates.
Narcissists show no need to take any responsibility for the untoward results of their own actions, frequently going to ingenious extremes to weasel their way out of anything of the sort. After all, anything else would first require them to admit, as more than some petty platitude, that they aren't perfect.
Frequently project their own shortcomings onto others, especially whose whom they can control or of whom they are envious.
Carol's narcissism inspired her first husband to leave everything to her in his will. Some say she drove him into an early grave. She enjoys the money, but now nobody with a brain cell will touch her and her kids don't want to know her.
by Fearman March 28, 2008
Get the narcissism mug.Advice invariably found in the literature handed out by purveyors of so-called "alternative" or "complementary" medicine, in which customers intending to buy quackery are advised to check with their GPs first to find what "mainstream medicine" has to say.
The venomous diatribes against real medicine, and science and rationality in general, behind the closed doors of the "alternative" movement should tell you all you need to know about the sincerity of the quack-my-ass clause. On the face of it, it sounds obvious, egalitiarian and big-hearted. However, the real intention of the advice is to ensure that if anyone dies or is incapacitated by taking the quack's advice or products (or by swearing off real medicine, which may not be advised on the packaging but is a stock in trade in the "alternative" industry), if the matter comes to court the quack's lawyer can claim that the product or the service was misused; obviously, they didn't check with their GP, how unfortunate, it's not our fault.
Besides, the quack knows perfectly well their client is unlikely to see their GP or specialist about whatever the problem is, or if they do they won't pay much attention to their advice. If they did, they wouldn't be coming to the quack in the first place.
The venomous diatribes against real medicine, and science and rationality in general, behind the closed doors of the "alternative" movement should tell you all you need to know about the sincerity of the quack-my-ass clause. On the face of it, it sounds obvious, egalitiarian and big-hearted. However, the real intention of the advice is to ensure that if anyone dies or is incapacitated by taking the quack's advice or products (or by swearing off real medicine, which may not be advised on the packaging but is a stock in trade in the "alternative" industry), if the matter comes to court the quack's lawyer can claim that the product or the service was misused; obviously, they didn't check with their GP, how unfortunate, it's not our fault.
Besides, the quack knows perfectly well their client is unlikely to see their GP or specialist about whatever the problem is, or if they do they won't pay much attention to their advice. If they did, they wouldn't be coming to the quack in the first place.
Ah, here's the booklet; 123 symptoms this product may be able to cure, 256 further lists of types of people the product may be able to help, 25 more natural products from the same factory that might be able to balance your energies and so on, and, oh yes, the quack-my-ass clause.
by Fearman September 10, 2007
Get the quack-my-ass clause mug.