Friday Ephemera
Why wildebeest don’t rule the Earth. // I hear you still don’t have your very own battle robot. // Bond is coming. // Lullaby versions of alternative pop. // Little people, giant food. // “What factors could increase the survival rate of red-shirted crewmen?” // For people who just have to look at porn in a public library. (h/t, Kate) // Amuse the kids with preserves. // Brown bear cam (with occasional salmon). // What would it cost to be Batman? // “The body in charge of America’s temperature record has systematically exaggerated global warming. In fact, it has doubled it.” // Bill Whittle on Jon Stewart and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. //
They didn’t include the cost of the shark repellant.
“Why wildebeest don’t rule the Earth.”
😀
Amuse the kids with preserves.
A jar of Thickest Human Snot would go down a treat.
Brown bear cam (with occasional salmon).
Just saw a bear catch a salmon and I actually gasped.
I need to get out more.
David,
Thanks for the Bill Whittle link; a superb example of how you demolish a wet argument with simple facts.
Steve,
Yes, it’s one of Bill’s better ones. And it shows just how readily some broadcasters want to believe a false, and morally ludicrous, version of events.
The new Bond looks good. One word… cufflinks.
It takes a lot of ignorance to believe that dropping the atom bombs wasn’t ultimately the most humane course of action. Perhaps also an overdeveloped concern for “fairness”. The number of victims wasn’t exceptional by that stage of the war — I think the first firebombing of Tokyo killed about 100k people, but that required, I don’t know, hundreds of B-29s, and it involved high risk to the crews flying close to the ground, while the Enola Gay was just a single tiny speck high in the sky. The effect was essentially the same. LeMay planned to apply the same strategy used on Tokyo to every city in Japan. He didn’t because he ran through his stock of incendiary bombs too quickly. More were on the way, however, and whereas the extraordinary power of the atomic bomb could shock the Japanese leadership out of its commitment to national suicide, the firebombings could have gone on and on and on. Japan would have been a wasteland, and that’s even before an actual invasion.
The Kuratas, of course, would have been a game-changer.
One word… cufflinks.
I officially declare the shot with the cufflink the best bit of any Bond trailer. Ever.
On a somewhat related note, I find it quite staggering when ‘lefties’ blather on about American Imperialism. When I point out to these people that the 2 countries that America has had the most political involvement in progressed from rock bottom to become, by a huge distance, the most wealthy and successful countries in their region in the space of just about 20 years after the war they have no answer. But they never ever change their opinions.
Meanwhile the most convincing pro-American argument I have heard, came from a Vietnamese woman who left Vietnam in a boat in the late 70’s but now lives a good life in London. She told me that one of her earliest memories is of watching American planes bombing her part of North Vietnam. Despite this she wishes the Americans had won that war and firmly believes that life for her family and every other Vietnamese citizen would have been hugely improved by that outcome.
Obviously the likes of John Stewart know better, living as they do on a superior intellectual plane.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/08/london-1918-versus-today/2820/
Every Bill Whittle vid is terrific, especially when he gets angry.
Completely unrelated but I reckon it fits Friday ephemera well, slow motion fire breathing. (via IMAO).
‘She told me that one of her earliest memories is of watching American planes bombing her part of North Vietnam. Despite this she wishes the Americans had won that war and firmly believes that life for her family and every other Vietnamese citizen would have been hugely improved by that outcome’.
I once had a girlfriend who had (as a toddler) been obliged to leave Saigon in haste along with her family in 1979, as they were guilty of being (1) bourgeois and (2) Chinese. They were lucky enough to make the voyage across the South China Sea to Thailand, and ultimately make it to the UK.
Oh … and please, God, please let ‘Skyfall’ be an improvement on ‘Quantum of Solace’.
“For people who just have to look at porn in a public library.”
From the article: “We’re always looking for any kind of elegant solution that strikes a balance between the right to privacy and folks that want to use the library for any other intended purpose,” said head librarian Luis Herrera to local media.
“Intended purpose”? Is that to distinguish from accidental purposes? And as for the purpose of watching porn, where’s the “elegant” box of tissues?
Hey, even sleazy people with no class need some lovin’ too. It is San Francisco.
Will they provide a secret crawlspace and peepholes for those citizens who would prefer to watch the children’s book section instead?
Where are the specially marked and reserved glory-hole stalls in the men’s lavatory, for the protection of those interested in making use of such services (servicing?) against the H8 of those who might not welcome being so propositioned?
Re: Skyfall
Anton Chiguhr has moved up in the world, I see, and gotten another strange haircut.
;^)
http://www.incredibox.com/en/#/application
http://prostheticknowledge.tumblr.com/post/28662849326/pareidoloop-correction-blech-said-the-author
http://news.consumerreports.org/home/2012/08/results-of-consumer-reports-wind-turbine-tests.html
http://vimeo.com/27430969