Friday Ephemera

“New York, seen from above…”
No, it’s not New York. It’s one single borough (out of 5) of New York, and only parts of that one borough at that. Would kind of be nice if these “artsy” types, as well as journalists, etc., would realize that lower and central Manhattan are not the totality of New York City.

You forgot the cluck-me shoes. 👠🐔

This is drawing..

Speaking of robots, would you let one draw your blood?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=po5_axG7HF4

The guy assaulted her HAMSTER? Eeewwww.

This is not drawing.
Despite it being populated with adults, neither is it adult.
Footpath of note.
Whenever possible use paths with 700 ft sheer drops in the rain. In close proximity to strangers. Wearing backpacks. And film it.

Back in the ’50s, when my father was a legal apprentice – because that used to be a thing – one of the partners in the firm didn’t even have a degree.
Quite so. The founding partner of my firm did not have a degree of any kind. Rather, he “read the law” under the tutelage of a sole practitioner for a number of years until that attorney certified that he was fit to sit for the bar exam. Thereafter, he had a rather stellar career as an attorney, state senator and finally, a judge on one of the federal circuit court of appeals (appointed by President Eisenhower).
[*Contemplates 10,000 word rant on the superfluity of most of modern legal education, which rant is based on practicing for thirty years. Thinks better of it, elects to have a final brandy and goes to bed.*]

Cycling does have quite an arrogant-twat-who-thinks-his-wheeled-method-of-transportation-isn’t-a-bloody-vehicle problem, though.
Well, yes, the vices of cyclists, as a group, are legion. To that, I can testify*. But unlike London’s woker-than-thou “cycling chief,” I doubt that skin colour is one of them.
*Cycling two, three, even four-abreast on country roads, making overtaking either dangerous or impossible, and clearly enjoying this fact and therefore doing it for as long as it can be done, often several minutes, while presumably feeling superior. For instance.

English Decorum.

The cost of lowered standards.
From Greg Ashman, an Australian education blogger:

We have all heard the arguments: Formal written examinations only measure performance on one day, not what students can do over a sustained period. They have a narrow academic focus that does not take into account ‘non-cognitive skills’ such as social skills and creativity [ … ] So we need to replace formal examinations with something else that better reflects all of our students’ abilities.
This is a flawed argument [ … ]
Once we begin to take account of ‘non-cognitive’ skills, we introduce bias based on class, ethnicity and gender, because these skills overlap so much with bourgeois manners. In an exam, nobody can tell that you have a Birmingham accent or that your upbringing means that you are a little rough around the edges. Unfortunately, we have now introduced these factors as legitimate reasons to discriminate against you. It’s tough luck if your quirkiness means that you don’t gel with your team-mates in a collaborative task because it will be used to judge your collaborativity or some such made-up nonsense.
The Australian National University (ANU) has had the idea of judging students on their, ‘contribution to family, school and community.’ This is the kind of extracurricular requirement favoured by American universities … Does this sound reasonable? If so, have a think about who is in the best position to game such a requirement. Is it the public-transport-using child of a single working mother from Western Sydney or the car-owning child of sharp-elbowed parents from an affluent suburb with plenty of connections at the local church and no need of a part-time job?

The rest is here.

English Decorum.
Chav scum, same the world over.

Was that a tattoo of a pistol in a garter? I mean, WTF? Who would thnk that was a good idea? Okay – aside from Baby Spice here?

The winner was, I think, inevitable.
Indeed. The cute little dog was always going to win that one. Although that was some inspired ladle wielding by the gentleman.

Please stop noticing reality.

They aren’t entirely wrong. We should instead refer to them as accused illegal immigrants, until we are sure.

Designer Marc Sadler has created a really clever suitcase…
It’s really just a Boy Scout patrol box with a few embellishments. Troop 42 (Cedar Rapids) built something similar a few years back. Telling that none of the swooning art critics recognize such a thing.
Q: How do the robots work?
A: They move along a grid system.
Gee, thanks for that helpful hint, Doctor Obvious.

Meanwhile, in London.

Is a Birmingham accent good, bad, or indifferent?

Is a Birmingham accent good, bad, or indifferent?
About the same as a Mobile or Huntsville accent, it is the Auburn and Tuscaloosa accents you have to watch out for.

Footpath of note.
Around here, there is the comment of Passing uphill on Old Priest Grade.

Monolith action figure. “Zero points of articulation.”
See, also,

I was delighted when this turned up at my door! Since rushing out to stroke it I have discovered fire, learned how to eat meat, killed the big cats which used to eat my family and – best of all – I have murdered that bastard from next door who used to pee in my water-hole! And, I now know a catchy tune!

Camel versus cactus.
One of the situations that inspires the observation of:
. . . . . Oh.
I see you’ve done this before.

Meanwhile, in London.

Make politicians live on the feral sink estates they created.

Oh, right.
Even tireless champion of the melanin-enriched downtrodden of South Central Los Angeles, 8-term Congresswoman Maxine Waters, doesn’t live among the constituents she represents. Maxine Waters lives in tony Hancock Park, at least 6 miles north of her Congressional District.
(Before the resident sophist objects and posts multiple links to media sources “debunking” it: yes, I know the deed to the property is in her husband’s name, but don’t try to tell me she doesn’t live there.)

Something along the lines of this:

A review of possible dangers of artistic criticism.

David, thy spam filter is being capricious again. If you could shake my reply from her grasp I’d be grateful. Thank you.

There isn’t? Huh. Thanks for looking. Ok, take two:
Meanwhile, in London. “Make politicians live on the feral sink estates they created.”
That should also apply to the architects of them too, for that matter.

“[*Contemplates 10,000 word rant on the superfluity of most of modern legal education, which rant is based on practicing for thirty years. Thinks better of it, elects to have a final brandy and goes to bed.*]”
Heh. Through my teens I was pretty much dead-set on following in my father’s footsteps. But the closer I got to actually doing it, the less I liked both what I saw and what I could see it all becoming.
“Maxine Waters lives in tony Hancock Park”
Why did they name it after a Briti… oh. Right. As you were.
By the way, David, the EU wants to ban Friday Ephemera. Enjoy it while you still can, folks.

A situation like that, though, you really need a level-10 force field.
That dog was not to be denied, even jumping on the table to get his prize…

Modern architecture gets a lot of stick, but I doubt inner London’s estates would be any better if they consisted of 3-bed semis with a nice garden. Management of the estate is crucial; for example London’s Barbican estate is a mass of brutalist concrete but is well-managed. It is also full of wealthy professionals. Take the same estate, have it managed on the cheap and fill it with the same demographic* as other London estates and it would soon be one of those feral inner city estates.
*The vast majority of whom are decent people of course, but the minorities of recidivist scum, benefit junkies and non-integrating,non-contributing immigrants soon ruin it for everyone.

Cue, “It wasn’t real marxism” in 3, 2, 1…..
https://twitter.com/HansReturns/status/1002443574955446272
via Orwell & Goode

“If they don’t close the doors with customers inside so they cannot escape and starve to death was it really a Marxist restaurant?”
It isn’t real Marxism until everyone who would speak our is dead.

My apologies to everyone for using an obscure Americanism. I see and hear the term “tony” quite often to describe something luxuriously trendy (it’s popular with the news media) but did not realize how provincial it actually is.
(o_O)

Vox.
https://twitter.com/voxdotcom/status/1003120339579297792

Sounds reasonable . . .