Comments on: The Fetish in relation to Skepticism

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:13:49 +0000

I recommend using the chain to chain the motor, which some day WILL fall off the boat out on the lake, to the boat!

By: Dunc

Dunc — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:01:00 +0000

Yeah, except you put the chain away “somewhere safe” at the start of the season and now you can’t find it… 😉

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:54:17 +0000

I dunno, but up at the lake, nobody steals boats but once someone stole a motor. Then once more time somebody stole another motor but did not get away with it because it was too heavy. In the latter case, that theft was not premeditated but the thieves were theivy people who were always stealing shit, so just waking up in the morning was a premeditated crime about to happen. But yes, I suspect that where boat thefts on lakes (of row boats) are more common, it is pranking kids on drugs.

Anyway, if you want to secure your boat over winter, hiding the plug where you can’t find it is not as good as using a chain!

By: Dunc

Dunc — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:46:49 +0000

Something I meant to bring up the first time I read this: How many boat thefts are pre-meditated by a habitual boat thief who knows to bring spare drain plugs, and how many are simply opportunistic cases of drunk teenagers horsing around?

Most simple theft prevention techniques are easily negated by a practised thief – yet they are still often effective, because a great many thefts are opportunistic rather than premeditated, and carried out by amateurs on the spur of the moment. However, I have no idea what the ratio might be for thefts of rowing boats in Minnesota in winter…

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:15:11 +0000

Couple of margaritas in the right company, that could be commercial …

By: HP

HP — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:14:49 +0000

Re. definition of “fetish”: I am not an anthropologist (nor, indeed, an -ologist of any kind), but yours is the definition of fetish I usually mean when I use the word.

Granted, “fetish” isn’t a word I use a whole lot in conversation, but it’s very handy for discussing certain things, and I find that I always have to define it every time I use it. What’s up with that?

I always thought it was the Freudian definition, but I was recently discussing the fetishization of marriage* with a psychotherapy professional, and was a bit surprised when I had to stop and define terms. So maybe I picked up the sociological/anthropological definition from somewhere years ago.

* My example of a marriage fetish: “Now that we’re married, you’ll be much better at household repairs.”

By: Lou Doench

Lou Doench — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:22:55 +0000

A)Very cool…
B)I originally misread the title as “Fetish in relation to Skepticon” and thought you had come up with a really kinky take on “Gelato-gate”.