Friday Ephemera
“The customer’s hair is covered in flammable powder and then set on fire with a lighter.” (h/t, Matthew) // Magnetic spherical chess board. // This is a thing now. // Dog names in New York. // For snack lovers with no self-control. // Busted, baby. // Brazilian caves. // “How to kick ass in high heeled boots,” 1983. // An extensive library of miniature bottles. // Blade Runner 2049. // I too have had this niche problem. // A cappella extraction, a work in progress. // What the pilot sees. // This. (h/t, Damian) // Look at all the humans. // Make your own horror film soundtrack. // Assorted science fiction interfaces. // A feast of quality acting. // Why sci-fi alien planets often look the same. // Six marimbas. // Coming through. // And finally, how to change a car’s ignition coils.
Toronto was the stand-in for Raccoon City in
the Academy Award winningmovie Resident Evil, wasn’t it?And of course there was this, also in Toronto.
What is it with Toronto and raccoons?
🙁
Locally, raccoons are known as “trash pandas”.
For snack lovers with no self-control.
Oh, please.
Flexible version: Grab the side latches with big and next toes and pull, pull the back latch and turn the knob with fingers.
Tool using version: Pull each side latch and clamp open, pull the back latch and turn the knob with fingers.
Ook.
Why sci-fi alien planets often look the same.
A very large amount of low budget SF and fantasy is shot in Canada, partly because the dollar is weaker and partly because union rules are much less strict (it’s economically feasible to shoot at night here, for instance). This results in a similar problem. In an interview, Richard Dean Anderson opined that the stargate-building aliens would have transplanted hardy Earth flora such as fir, larch and white pine along with stone age humans so that they would have plentiful resources in their new colonies, and that was why every planet on Stargate SG-1 looked like Northern BC.
“So it’s not because the show is shot in Vancouver?”
“Not at all.”
“So it’s not because the show is shot in Vancouver?”
“Not at all.”
Consider one hundred square miles of merely generated landscape, with mild references to Scotland.
Generating the kid was a separate project.
I too have had this niche problem.
Me too. 🙂
Me too. 🙂
In mitigation, I haven’t heard the music for a few years and I don’t have the sharpest ear for pitch, so it’s easily done.
Somewhere out there I hope to find a Six Million Dollar Man / Emmerdale Farm title music mash-up.
The pride and suffering of the modern racist.
But what’s with the reference to 80s kids? The Six Million Dollar Man was as 70s as they come. His jackets alone were about as near to the Platonic ideal of 70s ‘style’ as it’s possible to get. Rerun-watching little pseuds…
Somewhere out there I hope to find a Six Million Dollar Man / Emmerdale Farm title music mash-up.
Also ‘Bewitched’ and ‘Blind Date’.
Artists explained.
… although looking at the pictures from the 1983 self-defence book, there obviously were a few hiccups in the space-time continuum around then, so I might just be a bit more forgiving of the error than I really ought to be…
And here’s this week’s fake “hate crime.”
Om nom nom, nom nom nom. Oook.
Well Captain, they are appearing to be eating each other…
http://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Journal-Article-Provoked-a/240021
Apropos of nothing in particular, I just followed a link to something at the International Business Times, which wouldn’t allow me to read anything unless I disabled my adblocker. Which I did. Even with a fast internet connection, the site took 22 seconds to load all of the distracting and irrelevant crap that no-one wants to look at.
For people who don’t like coffee
Whys, indeed.
Whys, indeed.
At least she put some plastic sheeting down first.
At least she put some plastic sheeting down first.
It makes disposal of the “installation” more convenient. Just fold up the sheet and deposit in the nearest dumpster.
It makes disposal of the “installation” more convenient.
I’m not sure whether it’s an installation or a protest; either way, it’s hard to care. Ease of disposal is the only area of interest. Two burly lads and then madam, and her work, should just slide right off.
And at Western Washington University:
There’s also some random and seemingly aimless flinging of paint.
Passers-by stop to ask the woman if she’s alright, to which she seems to indicate that she’s screaming as a form of protest.
She isn’t coping well.
She isn’t coping well.
But notice the histrionic vanity of it all, the utter selfishness. The fact that her screeching and screaming, for minutes, as if in pain or terror, will disturb and alarm anyone in earshot – countless people trying to work – doesn’t seem to matter. Because it’s all about her.
And here’s this week’s fake “hate crime.”
“In order to draw attention to this bad thing, I am going to make this bad thing happen.”
In related news: caring, thoughtful parent beats crap out of child regularly to “toughen him up” for future bullying from schoolmates.
“How to kick ass in high heeled boots,”
Okay, we didn’t need the anatomical diagrams. Oof.
“Even with a fast internet connection, the site took 22 seconds to load all of the distracting and irrelevant crap that no-one wants to look at.”
eLinks is your friend. I wouldn’t use it for everything unless I was doing some kind of religious penance, but 90% of these anti-adblock sites – and more than one paywall, I’ve found – load perfectly in a text browser. With, because they’re always images, no ads.
“But what’s with the reference to 80s kids? The Six Million Dollar Man was as 70s as they come.”
That’s what I was thinking. I remember being hugely envious of a mate of mine who had the action figure with the bionic eye and the rubber sleeve on his arm you could take off and see his bionic insides. (He also had the Evel Knievel stunt bike. And a Stretch Armstrong. The envy ran deep.) He moved away about 1980-ish so it must have been before then.
Da-na-na-naaaah… bugger. I’ve done it again. Much easier to make the bionic noise. Dangdangdangdangdangdang… [Clicks mouse in slow motion, baffling everyone under 40.]
PS: Also Star Wars and Superman. The ubiquity of the former has helped over the years, but back then it was a different story.
eLinks is your friend.
Thanks for the tip, but I usually just don’t bother with such sites. I was, however, curious as to exactly how long it took to load all of the unwanted advertising and auto-play horseshit and Facebook extensions and whatever. 22 seconds is an eternity in internet time.
There be giants.
Another resignation and apology because of the pain and violence inflicted by words
to offer space for honest and challenging discussion
Lying is like breathing to some people.
I’d forgotten about the Toronto raccoon. And I thought the giants in the wood were great.
FlightLapse
Oh my god. Does this ever bring back memories. Not of my own flights, but of the descriptions from my father.
He flew a lot of high-altitude astronomy missions for NASA, also odd stuff like looking at comets, aurora, and solar eclipses. (Airborne, you can stay in the eclipse totality for a LONG time.)
He was generally a very laconic guy (Marine officer, natch) but he could get very poetic in his recounting of those flights.
Thanks, David.
Not of my own flights, but of the descriptions from my father.
My dad flew in land-based bombers (PV-1s) with the U.S. Navy during WWII. The flights took them from the Aleutians west to Kamchatka, then south to the Kurile Islands. They’d leave at night to be able to attack at dawn. He described the beauty of those flights over the North Pacific, once they’d cleared the weather. (He did radar and navigation.) Small compensation for nightmarish atmospheric conditions, Zeros and AA.
“Two burly lads and then madam, and her work, should just slide right off.”
I read R. Sherman’s comment as “Just fold up the sheet (with her still inside it) and deposit in the nearest dumpster.
@Champ.
Precisely.
Also, the reason the world needs men.
In today’s campus comedy news, a special snowflake reacts to a Trump sign on campus as only a special snowflake can.
Literally, REEEEEEEEEE!
R.Sherman
My dad flew in land-based bombers (PV-1s) with the U.S. Navy during WWII.
During the Vietnam War, my dad flew in the Ventura’s replacement, the P2V Neptune (the JATO version he crewed was redesignated P-2E in ’62). At least tracking Soviet subs didn’t involve a constant threat of aerial attacks.
Literally, REEEEEEEEEE!
[ Cough. ]
I thought I checked the comments, yet I missed that. You may delete mine if you see fit.
You may delete mine if you see fit.
Oh no. I think we should leave it there. As a stern reminder to us all.
Ooh. Coffee.
Literally, REEEEEEEEEE!
It’s strange how these creatures are so reliably perverse, and so reliably selfish. She screeches and screams like a lunatic, as if her life were in peril, yet somehow, instantly, manages to stop when concerned passers-by rush over to see if she’s okay, which on camera happens twice. Each time, she then resumes her banshee routine, while flinging paint around, evidently content to disturb and alarm everyone within earshot, many of whom will be trying to work. Because apparently no-one else matters. It’s all about her. But she’s the one we’re expected to regard as caring and heroic.
It’s utterly gratuitous, utterly dishonest and utterly self-involved. As a symbol of the broader “social justice” clown show, it works quite well.
Meanwhile, a University of Arizona job opportunity is on hold, I am guessing because no one understood what the hell it was.
Well, OK, but what does one actually do ?
That is more to the point, but if diversity is the holy grail to this ilk, why is diverse insensitivity bad ? Is one only to insensitive in one area ? Really finally, we get to the actual job task.
Wrongthough will not be tolerated.
Meanwhile, a University of Arizona job opportunity
Like cancer metastasising.
Meanwhile, a University of Arizona job opportunity
Glenn Reynolds, here.
If the right had as well-developed a legal infrastructure as the left, there would already be lawsuits and criminal prosecutions along these lines.
The problem is the leftist legal infrastructure includes way too many prosecutors and judges who either will not prosecute, or throw cases out.
The problem is the leftist legal infrastructure includes way too many prosecutors and judges who either will not prosecute, or throw cases out.
It is now day 25 since UC President Janet Napolitano’s secret $175 million slush fund was revealed.
She not only still has her job, but CA’s AG Xavier Becerra refuses to investigate.
“Apparently, she’s an Arts major.”
Godfrey Elfwick goes to #Eurovision
evidently content to disturb and alarm everyone within earshot, many of whom will be trying to work.
In my undergrad days, I owned an Entertech Defender water shotgun.
I found that loading it with white vinegar and issuing a few blasts to the face was a non-lethal, non-damaging yet highly effective way of deterring various forms of campus thuggery.
In my undergrad days, I owned an Entertech Defender water shotgun.
Alas, that would get you a free trip in a squad car these days, the best response to an idiot like this is an air horn to drown her out and a pie in the face as all good clowns deserve.
I was elected railroad commissioner of Louisiana in nineteen hundred and eighteen. And they tried to impeach me in nineteen hundred and twenty. When they failed to impeach me in nineteen hundred and twenty, they indicted me in nineteen hundred and twenty one. And I, when I wiggled through that I managed to become governor in nineteen hundred and twenty eight. And they impeached me in nineteen hundred and twenty nine.
—Huey P. Long.
Farnsworth,
the best response to an idiot like this is an air horn to drown her out
Is Air Horn Guy out of jail yet? I think we’ve found a job for him.
Cultural appropriation
I doubt that the editor of the Writers’ Union of Canada magazine resigned; I suspect he was forced to walk. His copybook-blotting proposition was: “the Appropriation Prize for best book by an author who writes about people who aren’t even remotely like her or him.” Think about that for a moment. It’s what every SciFi/Fantasy writer does. As does every travelogue author. Not to mention every historian and archaeologist. Indeed, if any of them write in English, a fair proportion of their lexicon was/is ‘cultural appropriation’. Taking this nonsense to its logical conclusion, I propose we BAN ENGLISH!
I take it you’ve not seen Alien Covenant yet, David? I won’t spoil it for you, but you’ll soon be revisiting your appraisal of the competence of the Prometheus crew and put them up there with Shackleton’s men.
Perfectly phrased
“Virtue signalling, in short, is rather like wetting the bed; in the short term you get a nice warm feeling, but soon afterwards everything starts to stink.”
(Rory Sutherland, Spectator, 19 November 2016)
you’ll soon be revisiting your appraisal of the competence of the Prometheus crew and put them up there with Shackleton’s men.
Heh. After seeing the trailers and reviews, I wasn’t remotely tempted. Diminishing returns and all that. And as mentioned in this review, among others, Scott’s attempts to embellish the creature’s backstory are erratic and unconvincing and only rob it of mystery.
you’ll soon be revisiting your appraisal of the competence of the Prometheus crew and put them up there with Shackleton’s men.
Prometheus is the only film I can recall that left me exiting the cinema feeling annoyed. Not just disappointed, but actually resentful and feeling conned, in part because what I’d paid to see bore little relation to the elaborate publicity material, both in tone and particulars. It’s also the only cinema visit I can think of where you could feel the audience mood change quite dramatically, from amiable anticipation, with strangers smiling at each other, almost like a pop concert, to weary resignation.
And over the years, God knows, I’ve watched some bollocks.
Well, the IMDB commenters are saying of Covenant “even Prometheus was better than this”. So don’t pay to go and see it.
“IMDB commenters”
Did they move the discussion boards to some super sekrit location?
Did they move the discussion boards to some super sekrit location?
Ah, should have said reviewers.
Oh, thanks. Those boards were always a good source of funny and some insight. Boo on IMDb for taking them down. I don’t bother with the site anymore – anyone have good replacement suggestions besides Rotten Tomatoes?
So what’s this King Charles III I’m looking at?
I propose we BAN ENGLISH!
You can’t paint like that! We won’t allow it!
I beginning to believe that high school & college art classes will soon be organized by race … The Euro room will have books on Dutch masters, the Renaissance, Medieval manuscript illustrations, French Impressionists and be stocked with oil paints, canvas, pastels, and other European medium
The North African room will have books on ancient Egyptian sculpture and tomb paintings with medium of the time, including blank walls and papyrus.
The Asian room will have rice paper, silk, inks, jade & only clay from China.
Indigenous people of North America – students will have fun with walrus ivory, hides, antlers and tree trunks
No student can study nor create any art not of their ‘race’ in order to avoid inappropriate influences.
Won’t the world be a better place with racially appropriate art?
You can’t paint like that! We won’t allow it!
Leaving aside that there is no such nonsense as “cultural genocide”, how does using artistic techniques and styles of a given culture kill it, instead of promoting it ? Leftists are as hyperbolic as they are stunningly stupid.
Leaving aside that there is no such nonsense as “cultural genocide”
Sorry, you have to understand a bit of the backstory here. Unlike the United States which tried to simply exterminate their native population before giving up and largely ignoring them, for much of the twentieth century Canada quite literally kidnapped native children from their families and impressed them into boarding schools where they were taught the White Man’s Ways and were punished, often horrifically, for retaining any of their own culture. For their own good, you see, we were bringing civilization to the savages.
So when a Canadian native activist talks about cultural genocide he’s not entirely out of line; the Canadian government really did try to stamp out all indigenous culture. It’s a touchy subject north of the 49th, even if the last “residential school” was closed in the 1970s and anyone even remotely related to anyone who went to one has been given a big fat cheque for their pain and suffering by now.
Unlike the United States which tried to simply exterminate their native population before giving up and largely ignoring them
Really? You mean like the Germans and the Jews? Or like ISIS and the …well, everybody? Tried to exterminate? One wonders why the bothered with all those silly treaties.
the United States which tried to simply exterminate their native population
Assuming facts not in evidence.
One wonders why they bothered with all those silly treaties.
Oh, that’s easy. The silly treaties were signed so that the tribes would allow a modest number of settlers permission to live in their territory. By the time they realized that we’d moved in ten times more people than what was agreed to, we outnumbered them by so much they had no choice but to accept the next round of “negotiations” from a severely compromised position. Think of it as a cross between Darth Vader and CAIR.
But they have slot machines now, so everything’s okay.
Because NA never, ever cheated on those treaties either. Because only white man speak with forked tongue. Look, I’m not saying everything was on the up and up, but the situation was a good bit more complicated than this silly black/white moral posturing implies. One can certainly debate those issues. But it was NOT an attempt by the US government to exterminate NA. Hell, we prolly tried harder to exterminate Jerrys and Japs, if you want to use that language.
Unlike the United States which tried to simply exterminate their native population …
You’re talking here about a patchwork of Iron Age tribes up against (literally) guns, germs, and steel. If the United States had genuinely wanted to exterminate the Amerinds, they would be exterminated. cf. Aztecs vs. Conquistadors.
You’re talking here about a patchwork of Iron Age tribes up against (literally) guns, germs, and steel.
Well, yes we are.