Friday Ephemera
Miracle engineering breakthrough. (h/t, Liz) // This is how the robot uprising starts. // Real estate of note. // House spider embryo. // The Shadow stalks his prey. // Frozen lake ice pile-up. // Californian topiaries. // Earplugs of note. // Upbeat Vader. // A video catalogue of every known vertical landing jet aircraft. // A brief history of the shopping trolley. // Beer keg of note. // Good question. // Minefield. // The north-east megalopolis. // “A Hawaiian mushroom that allegedly induces orgasms in women who sniff it.” // I don’t think we’re alone in the snow. // Nine things you (probably) didn’t know about The Silence of the Lambs, from casting could-have-beens to impressive prosthetic nipples. // And finally, expertly, a three-year-old girl reaches in deep and delivers a baby lamb.
The north-east megalopolis.
The Sprawl
That little girl from Wales will undoubtedly never need trigger warnings or safe spaces of any kind. Mum deserves a medal.
It’s not really the Imperial Death March in a major key; if you just did that the results would sound rather oddly dischordant. It’s really more a very similar tune, in a major key, that sticks to the same rhythm and mostly the same notes.
And finally, expertly, a three-year-old girl reaches in deep and delivers a baby lamb.
I’m so impressed. 🙂
Meanwhile, in academia:
Our brightest minds, thinking fearlessly round the clock.
>House spider embryo.
It’s the Cthulhu!
How to make a sword out of ice and toilet paper.
http://sploid.gizmodo.com/how-to-make-a-sword-out-of-ice-and-toilet-paper-1761265441
“Socialist virtue.”
Via the engineering link I somehow ended up looking at Eva Longoria performing the Spice Girls in the style of a daytime soap opera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AemfAsdOqzE
Strangely compelling.
Sean Connery as Hannibal. Nope. Can’t deal with that at all.
Oh, yeah, 25 years ago I was at an Oscar Party and people (gay, specifically) were complaining about Jodie Foster not coming out–you know, that whole “take the butterfly off your mouth and come out” thing.
Then I said, loudly, that if someone had a crush on me to the extent of shooting the President I’d sure never talk about my love life ever ever ever. A thoughtful silence fell. Nowadays I’d probably be called a Nazi and get curb-stomped.
I’m just intrigued by the news that some of my readers go to Oscars parties.
“Our brightest minds, thinking fearlessly round the clock.” In that case, wouldn’t “…round the cock” be more accurate?
I’ve not been invited to an Oscars party since….
Recent comments at this (David’s) site have made me realize that I might be surrounded by gays or something. I’m not sure how to react. Do I have to convert in order to fully enjoy the experience?
I’m not sure how to react.
Be very still. Their vision is based on movement.
David, if you need a fresh target for mockery, you might try this out:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/26/academia-hands-off-revolutionary-philosophy/
The jargon alone is impressive, but the impermeable stupidity is what really makes it special.
I’m not sure how to react. Do I have to convert in order to fully enjoy the experience?
I’m a heterosexual male of longstanding. I just have my wife pick out my clothes before I show up to comment.
😀
@rep
Philosophy used to be the most precious crown jewel of human intellectual achievement. It stood at the vanguard of almost all fights for a better world. Gramsci was a philosopher, and so were Lenin, Mao Tse-tung, Ho-Chi-Minh, Guevara, Castro, Frantz Fanon, Senghors, Cabral, Nyerere and Lumumba, to name just a few.
Oh for fuck’s sake.
if you need a fresh target for mockery, you might try this out
Problem is, although broken minds are a common feature of communist fervour, to a degree that practically speaks for itself, the ways in which their minds are broken can be quite tedious. Still, I suppose it’s touching that Mr Vltchek wants us to join him on the other side of the mirror.
The orgasm mushroom is likely bogus:
http://throb.gizmodo.com/about-that-orgasmic-mushroom-it-probably-doesn-t-exi-1736799139
“Be very still. Their vision is based on movement.”
Damned Rana genome again.
I note that “philosopher” chap has neglected to mention Roger Scruton, a man and philosopher who has done more in the name of real social justice by fighting genuine oppression and tyranny, than any of those social justice wanker poseurs ever will. Of course, silly me, Mr Scruton has been fighting the wrong sort of oppression, that is to say, the very sort of oppression that the philosophy espoused by Mr Vltchek’s “intellectual heroes” inevitably leads to.
And again, in academia:
Because screaming racist abuse, blocking entrances and exits, and repeatedly assaulting disabled people, is what “social justice” is all about.
::snort:::
I note Andre Vltchek was born in 1963 … he’s resentful he was born too late to actually experience the 1960’s and spent his life trying to recapture the ::cough:: romanticism ::cough:: of the era.
If I go through his bedroom bureau, will I find Che underoos?
Because screaming racist abuse, blocking entrances and exits, and repeatedly assaulting disabled people, is what “social justice” is all about.
Can we call them fascists yet?
Can we call them fascists yet?
Totalitarians, definitely. Or, “Shitstains who should be expelled and then filmed on live TV while explaining to their parents why those eye-watering tuition fees are not being refunded.”
Because I’d watch a show like that.
“Be very still. Their vision is based on movement.”
You are speaking of the leopard on the ski slope no doubt.
Penny Red speaks to the Aussie SJW bund, (Sargon of Akkad):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbrxZu3eNkw
“Even for an entry-level position, it is always prudent and wise to pause, consider the offer, and negotiate the terms of your employment.”
Advice for those $15/hr burger flippers from “Millennial Mag”, god help us all.
http://millennialmagazine.com/a-millennials-guide-to-salary-negotiation/
@Real Estate of Note
Civilization, even life, is a constant fight against entropy aka rot.
I have seen 160 countries in all corners of the Globe. I have witnessed wars, conflicts, imperialist theft and indescribable brutality of white tyrants.
He’s born in 1963, so I wonder how many times he’s actually been to a country ruled by a white tyrant.
Assuming he doesn’t count the murderous regimes of the Warsaw Pact, which I doubt he does, what is he left with?
The Greek Colonels exited in 1974 (and weren’t particularly murderous by tyrant standards). Franco died 1975. Portugal lost it’s authoritarian regime in 1974. So not Europe.
Pinochet went in 1990 and was a murderous shit, but was toning it down by the 1980’s. The Argentine military fell in 1983, so he might have just made it to there. The Brazilian and Uruguayan military weren’t so murderous, which is why they limped on to 1985. I doubt he made it to Stroessner’s Paraguay, which was quite hard to get to. Maybe South America, but only just.
Nicaragua! Must be Nicaragua! Ooops, sorry, the Sandanistas were leftists. Do you think he’s talking about Castro? No, neither do I.
So unless I have missed someone, I call total bullshit on his having seen more than the last limping years of any murderous regimes run by whites — other than those revolutionary regimes with which he sides.
I can name a whole bunch of yellow, brown and black murderous regimes since then though! I wonder why he doesn’t mention them?
“I don’t think we’re alone in the snow.”
“Ski faster, Chuck, FASTER!”
Sean Connery as Hannibal. Nope. Can’t deal with that at all.
I’ve been doing some catchup cleanup and archiving of email commentary. One occurrence noted dates back awhile, but defintely reminds that things can always be worse . . .
Recent comments at this (David’s) site have made me realize that I might be surrounded by gays or something.
I know how you feel. But consider this. If you hail from these US of A, you may be familiar with a reality show that ran for a number of seasons a few years ago, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The show featured five gay men who took it upon themselves to set a non-queer on the straight path (pun intended or not intended, your pick) by teaching him manners, how to dress, how to groom himself, how to take care of his wife or girlfriend, etc. The premise of the show being that straight men are uncouth creatures prone to grunting and likely to, say, pee in the sink, while gay men are refined and debonair and suave and civilized and overall show an appreciation for the finer things in life. My wife (She Who Must Be Obeyed) used to watch the show and she enjoyed it immensely (my wife’s sense of humor is somewhat peculiar – if you needed an allegory for Schadenfreude her effigy would be a fitting choice, but that is a subject for another time). Having watched the show with her a number of times (in the interest of peace at home and, truth be told, because I enjoyed it as well), I came to realize that American popular imagination must indeed see a straight man as a a beetle-browed, primitive, mouth-breathing creature whose hands hang down to his knees. Now I am a heterosexual male, but I am also a Frenchman (no sniggering in the back!). At any rate, I have decent standards of personal hygiene, I enjoy ballet and classical music, particularly Italian opera, I am a damn good cook (ask my wife), I have more than a passing familiarity with wine, I do know how to treat a lady, and (as this post will no doubt confirm) I express myself in fully-formed sentences. (Albeit maybe somewhat verbosely, if not pompously?) Hence, in the American popular imagination, I must be gay. Rest assured that such is not the case (not that there’s anything wrong with that). But if you are hailing from these US of A you may indeed be confounded by the fact that some of the people surrounding you in these comments are Europeans whose mode of expression may seem a tad stilted, say, to your American ear, which might lead you to conclude that they are thus more likely than not to be of the gay persuasion. It is not necessarily so.
“The unicorn is in custody”
“Socialist virtue.”
Similar. Note the date.
I express myself in fully-formed sentences.
Next semester, we’ll teach you how to break that massive chunk of verbiage into bite-sized paragraphs.
MSNBC sidelines Melissa Harris-Perry, with predictable results:
“I will not be used as a tool for their purposes. I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by Lack, Griffin, or MSNBC.”
Yeah. She goes on like that for a while, of course. Very funny Ace O’ Spades take:
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/361794.php
Next semester, we’ll teach you how to break that massive chunk of verbiage into bite-sized paragraphs.
Not gonna happen. I am partial to the Marcel Proust school of writing. Or, to take an example closer to home: as Neal Freeman remarks about Bill Buckley’s Firing Line TV program in today’s Wall Street Journal, “(o)f the first three sentences (of Bill’s opening to the show), at least one would be so long and winding as to be undiagrammable by Cleanth Brooks.” I share Mr. Buckley’s conceit about language: it can be used (again in Mr. Freeman’s words) “to instruct and illuminate, but almost as often to stun or intimidate.”
to instruct and illuminate, but almost as often to stun or intimidate
It won’t do any of those things if potential readers don’t bother to read it.
I knew the sheep delivery reminded me of something: https://youtu.be/NcHdF1eHhgc?t=3m52s
Poor child had to work without a machine that goes “ping” though.
I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head.
Will the nation now have to do without Ms Harris-Perry’s contributions to the culture?
It won’t do any of those things if potential readers don’t bother to read it.
True. But evidently you did. So I have a, shall we say, selective appeal. Guilty as charged.
So I have a, shall we say, selective appeal.
You are content to have an audience of one?
You are content to have an audience of one?
Well, maybe two. But I have self-abuse issues. I blame my German toilet training.
I came to realize that American popular imagination must indeed see a straight man as a a beetle-browed, primitive, mouth-breathing creature whose hands hang down to his knees.
Nah. Straight is just straight.
On an other hand, I do keep noticing that the above does describe hipsters.
A bit of Googlemancy does note that;
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
First episode date: July 15, 2003
Final episode date: October 30, 2007
Of course, while the preppies and then yuppies had already congealed by the time that QEFTSG had gone off the air—and thus would have been an excellent original impetus to create the show—the further shift into being hipsters came a little bit later. Basically, the show would have had a workable idea as far as trying to solve the clueless, but, the three axioms of such clueless continue to apply . . . .
Thank you, WTP. My mother being German, we may have some things in common.
Geezer, you are right, of course. If I want to reach a broad audience, I will have to change the way in which I write. And speak. Of course I may also have to sue for a change of venue, since I don’t think that the blog in which we are currently engaging in a discussion is reflective of mainstream opinion.
New paragraph (just trying it out, to see how it feels). As to your question – would I be content with an audience of one? Honestly, I think so. I’m not looking for the approbation of the crowd. Well, not anymore, at any rate. Too old to be bothered.
And yes, I’m aware that makes me sound solipsistic. Maybe not unlike some of the contributors to the Grauniad that David likes to skewer. Well, this is his salon, after all. He can revoke my privileges any time.
He can revoke my privileges any time.
Can’t. A glass of wine is keeping me very busy.
@Hedgehog and WTP
I married a German, though in the interest of full disclosure, she prefers to be called a “Bavarian.”
Et bien alors, à votre santé, cher David. I shall keep you company with a glass of bourbon.
R. Sherman,
Funny you should say that. My grandmother hailed from Bavaria, and indeed she used to insist on that as well. Those damn Prussians, they’re German. Bavarians? Nope. Not German. Not really.
PiperPaul,
I’m not sure how to react. Do I have to convert in order to fully enjoy the experience?
I am also with R.Sherman’s
” I’m a heterosexual male of longstanding. I just have my wife pick out my clothes before I show up to comment. ”
Except I may be even more hetro in that all my clothes are ordered by part number and I have been wearing the same stuff for the last 25 years for most occasions (Blundstone boots, Levi jeans, Hard Yakka shirt). I only go “off catalogue” when forced and then only after a lot of muttering and whinging on my part.
The point is, I don’t think anyone minds around here , and if they do they are to polite to mention it.
I think the Germans tend to think of the Bavarians as not quite German, too. (I seem to recall a lot of Bayernfeindlichkeit when the CDU ran Edmund Stoiber for Chancellor back in 2002.)
@Ted S.
I think it was Bismarck who said, “Bavarians are mankind’s link to the Austrians.”
Bavarians are mankind’s link to the Austrians.
I didn’t know that. I like it. But Bismarck also said this:
“Bayern ist vielleicht das einzige deutsche Land, dem es (…) gelungen ist, ein wirkliches (…) Nationalgefühl auszubilden.” – Bavaria is likely the only German Land (state) that has managed to establish a real national identity.
I sort of think of Bavaria as the Texas of Germany. Which is high praise for some (myself included), but tends to be rather a put-down in the rest of the U.S. Not unlike the Bayernfeindlichkeit mentioned by Ted S.
@Hedgehog,
Thanks for the translation, though those six years of German Lit made it unnecessary. And you’re correct with the Texas comparison, I think. I’ve used that myself actually.
The premise of the show being that straight men are uncouth creatures prone to grunting and likely to, say, pee in the sink
*shifts uncomfortably in chair*
*shifts uncomfortably in chair*
I learn so much from these discussions.
I’m not sure how to react.
Be very still. Their vision is based on movement.
I’m STILL laughing at this.