Friday Ephemera

She mingles and hobnobs like you wouldn’t believe.
Zelig-like. Not original, but well done.

An escapee from the Island of Dr Moreau? Yikes!

Shoreditch.
Enrichment.

1939 New York World’s Fair.

Deadpool 2.
Reminded me of this one.
https://vimeo.com/211758157

Morning, all.
In news from the Clown Quarter, it turns out that by having an outdoor activity club that’s open to everyone, you’re somehow excluding “people of colour.” And the term “outdoorsy” is an expression of “whiteness,” and therefore racist.
Please update your files accordingly.

These ‘woke’ white people always think brown people have no agency.
Well, yes. It’s delusional and patronising. Though I somehow doubt that people like Mr McCann spend much time reflecting on their own modish assumptions. They’re much too busy signalling and doing the in-group dance. But the psychology is interesting. It’s basically, “Yes, I’m wasting years of my life and vast amounts of money just to walk around twitching and sticking pins in my eyes; but at least I can trick some of you into sticking pins in your eyes too.”
It does seem to boil down to that, or something very like it, with remarkable regularity.

A Boy and someone else’s Dog.
(via Lisa)
p.s. might make your eyes feel ‘dusty’.

re: the Mona Lisa,
I can get into the Louvre for free and without queuing thanks to my employer coughing up a load of dosh for them. I’ve not been once, mainly because I don’t want to visit a museum only to see a few hundred Chinese taking selfies.

And the term “outdoorsy” is an expression of “whiteness,” and therefore racist.
Plan for the day:
1. Find something prosaic which people enjoy.
2. Take a big dump on it to make people feel guilty.
3. Bask in moral superiority.*
*With apologies to Iowahawk.

I have one of those fancy chopper axes . . . kind of. I got it used from a family member, and it is missing the little flip-out parts, and I suspect that 99% of those axeheads made are also missing their little flip-out parts. That’s because they’re almost guaranteed to break off with heavy use.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s…. err. Don’t look, children!

Somewhat related, let’s not forget this one.

Only last year did anyone think to build a bike for someone who’s heavier than 300 pounds.

Says someone who has never been in a bike shop. Maybe one has never previously been fitted with a tractor seat.

Oh well, so much for that excuse.

This.
https://twitter.com/MetroUK/status/931484150925811713

This.

Man gets eel stuck up his anus but won’t tell doctors how it got there.

I have a theory.

Re:scam type thing: “‘Lenny’ is a collection of recorded messages, designed to fool telemarketers into thinking they are talking to a real person” – https://www.youtube.com/user/ToaoDotNet/videos

Eel smuggling?

“Eel smuggling”
Was sent in to deal with the gerbil, perhaps.

Well, all I heard was…
The frog has more reason to be upset.
“Why are you pretending to be aggrieved? Your complaints are absurd and patently contrived. It’s embarrassing.”
“But I like pretending to be aggrieved.”
“Yes, but why?”
“Because pretending to be aggrieved gives me power over idiots.”

Shoreditch
From the replies:
The left bare handed arse wipe was the most telling of this tale
Yeah, I noticed that, too, but wasn’t going to comment on it, because that would be rayciss.

Regarding the “privilege” of wandering around in the weather, I would defer to the illustrious Dr. Sheldon Cooper: “If outside is so good, why has mankind spent thousands of years trying to perfect inside?”

it turns out that by having an outdoor activity club that’s open to everyone, you’re somehow excluding “people of colour.”
Among all the howlers in the rant, there has to be some prize for this:

Many National Parks are hundreds of miles from large cities.

Like, ohmygod, why does the wilderness have to be, you know, so far away and not, like, you know, along a busline near my apartment highrise?
/valleygirl speak

Oops, “where”, not “were” – hell “that” would have been better.
Yeah, I know, autocorrect doesn’t correct for grammar…

Like, ohmygod, why does the wilderness have to be, you know, so far away
It’s interesting that the little Mao-lings may have no ability to string together a coherent argument, and show no sign of ever being told that facts and logic are useful tools, and yet they all know, and know emphatically, which buzzwords to use and which things – usually white people – that they’re expected to disapprove of. And this, it seems, is enough.

And I’ll thank you not to judge me.

[ Hands Pogonip can of Oust. ]
Make yourself useful while you’re there.

Learning to nap anywhere is a valuable life skill.
A stint in the army will teach that very quickly.

What in tarnation?
“From the link” was supposed to go after the first quote.
Tooooo much previewin’ an’ editin’ got me a little befuddled.

Whom shall I oust with the Oust?

“parks are hundreds of miles away”
I’ve lived in several heavily urbanized areas. I frequent all sorts of outdoors places, from streamside city walkways, county parks, open-space reserves, state parks, national parks, you name it. I’m often amazed at how fast and easy it is to get away from a city, and to enjoy some real beauty and quiet. I mean “fast”, like fifteen minutes by car. I mean “easy”, like all you need is a hat and a water bottle.
It’s utter BS to claim that difficulty of access is keeping these college kids from doing the same.

We’re moving. It’s the crab’s house now.

@Pogonip
From the linked EveryDayFeminism post:
“Things like having dinner with friends was emotionally, physically, and mentally draining.”
Maybe she should think about getting new friends…

who’s napped in the least pod-like place?
Cold tile floor, Stevens Institute of Technology, in January. Used my boots as a pillow. I was not a student, for the record.
Runners-up include once in a tree and once on a bench in Penn Station (the Newark one, and again winter).

It’s utter BS to claim that difficulty of access is keeping these college kids from doing the same.

My experience has been much the same, though I will say (with the caveat that this is entirely anecdotal), that in all my many years of hiking, the number of black people I’ve met on the trails is barely out of single digits. Lots of whites hike, as do plenty of asians (though they seem to stick to trails near where they live), and quite a few hispanics. Pretty much every single time I’ve met a black person off-pavement, though, it’s been a young man in the company of white guys his own age — presumably military or classmates.
With that in mind, if Mr. McCann really wants to ‘reclaim outdoor spaces’ from the eeeeevil white hegemony*, he would be best advised to lace on a pair of sturdy shoes and invite all of his friends ‘of color’ on a trip to Greenbelt Park. Of course, that would be rather more strenuous than writing a presumptuous and patronizing whinge in the local college rag, but sacrifices must be made.
*not that I believe for one instant that such is McCann’s desire. I doubt the thought of expanding anyone’s recreational horizons ever crossed his mind. He’s more a limit-everyones-to-the-end-of-the-block kind of guy.

Hmm, extreme napping: who’s napped in the least pod-like place?
Commander’s hatch of an M60A1 tank (with no working heater) somewhere in Germany during a snowstorm in January 1981. When I woke up in the morning, I had about an inch or so of snow on me.
On top of an M577 command track at Fort Irwin some time in 1987; I was part of the S3 night shift and climbed on top of the track to sleep at around dawn. I managed to position my head such that the early morning sun sunburned the inside of my nose prior to my awakening a few hours later when the command track moved.
In an open-topped HMMV somewhat later when the command post was moving during the day. I wrapped my right arm around the strap used instead of a door so I wouldn’t be thrown out without my knowledge. I was awakened later on and told to put my gas mask on, after which I went back to sleep. I was awakened somewhat later when one of the rounds from an E8 launcher (http://library.enlistment.us/field-manuals/series-3/FM3-11/APPB.PDF) hit me in the center of my chest.
On the other hand, nobody was shooting at me when any of this happened. That removes many suck points.

I was awakened later on and told to put my gas mask on, after which I went back to sleep. I was awakened somewhat later when one of the rounds from an E8 launcher (http://library.enlistment.us/field-manuals/series-3/FM3-11/APPB.PDF) hit me in the center of my chest.

Ahem. Over Here. And that Preview button down below that comment window is your friend.

On the other hand, nobody was shooting at me when any of this happened. That removes many suck points.

Scuzzi? The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.
Someone was indeed shooting at you at that particular point. I do definitely grant that you may now need to discuss the concept of intrapersonnel military humor to those of us who may have not previously run into such—and yes, I did indeed type intra and then personnel—and see also.
—My educated guess is of your circumstances at the time being some variety of live ammo training, with a specific focus on low impact antipersonnel/crowd control techniques, aka, how to capture a chunk of battlefield or otherwise stop a riot without killing the other participants . . . and that the circumstances did indeed involve a comment at some point of Oh. But I was aiming in some other direction. Oops.

On top of an M577 command track at Fort Irwin some time in 1987;
Do tell.
I’m considering a given that you’ve read Starship Troopers and The Forever War, and Ender’s Game.
See also, A Small Colonial War, Sten, and Bill, The Galactic Hero.

I find her logic irrefutable and her vocabulary impressive.
Master, shall I oust her with the Oust?

Meanwhile, if your physician asks about your weight, he may be violating your human rights.
From the paragon of scholarly research, “Fat Studies”…

The authors critique the weight-centered health paradigm through the lens of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Public health researchers and practitioners may inadvertently breach their human rights obligations by working within the weight-centered health paradigm.

Granted that is just form the abstract, but if you want to shell out 42 frogskins to read it for 24 hours, knock yourself out.
For more high comedy read the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and see where else you might be violated per this august document.

Why was I not surprised to learn the authors are female?
Can’t comment on size, but Miss O’Hara is a “health promotion practioner” which means she calls herself a “practitioner” to make people think she actually has some clinical knowledge.

It’s nice to see my name in neon lights, as it were.
It’s like joining the Monte Carlo party set, isn’t it?

The One County In America That Voted In A Landslide For Both Trump And Obama

So why did Rasmussen vote for Obama and Trump? “Just to shake up Washington, to be honest. We’ve been in a rut for so long. People here don’t want to be multi-gajillionaires. They just want to get paid a decent wage,” she said, noting that her 2016 choice “might have been different” had Bernie Sanders won the nomination.
Howard County wasn’t always a train wreck for Clinton. Ironically, in the epic 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Clinton ran as the candidate of labor and small-town America, rallying union halls, downing whiskey and beer for the cameras, and blasting Obama’s speeches as “elitist and out of touch.” She came in third place statewide and only carried 22 of Iowa’s 99 counties in that year’s caucuses. But Howard was one of the 22 she won.
By 2016, however, Howard County morphed into Sanders territory. The Vermont senator struck a nerve with his calls for a working-class revolution and his attacks on Clinton’s Wall Street ties and shifting rhetoric on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
“I was shocked. I didn’t think a person would show up for Bernie,” said Murray, who chaired his precinct’s caucus. “But when I showed up, it was full of Bernie people.”

People here don’t want to be multi-gajillionaires. They just want to get paid a decent wage,” she said,
Perhaps they should consider developing some decent skills?

I think this may be part of the reason some are overworked.

Holly Rasmussen was one of those who had reached a breaking point. An Obama voter, Rasmussen cited the way that ill-tailored new federal rules applied to her tiny Cresco cosmetology school as a driving factor in her defection to Trump. “Honestly, when we founded the school, I got to teach. But the last few years, I had to spend all day in my office because I’ve had to file campus crime reports,” she said. “And if we had two people who didn’t repay their loans out of the eight students we had, [the Department of Education] made it tougher for us to get financial aid. Because of the regulations, we had to close. Now, we’re just a salon and spa.”