Friday Ephemera
Patriarchy detected. They were “taken by surprise.” || The circle of life. || Altered stone. || I think not. || Enthusiastic newcomers. || Wine glass of note. || Where to put the baby while you use a public toilet. || Medieval trade routes. (h/t, Brian) || Important notice of note. || He spent 3 years building a pyramid of pennies. || Periscope spectacles for the height impaired. || More liveliness in London. || Tesla vs Lovecraft is a game. || Gorilla crow. || Glories of the 1980s. || Thank goodness the clever ones are in charge. || Always respect the media. || Always trust Google. || Entirely unrelated. || One and four, obviously. (h/t, Tim) || And finally, via Dicentra, things that will be found by future archaeologists.
Altered stone
Oh, my. That’s incredibly beautiful. I never cease to be amazed at just how much skill it takes to make a marble figure look like it has been draped in a sheer cloth, and with the artist using comparatively primitive tools at that. As art it’s just so much more powerful and moving than some woman repeatedly walking past a row of automatic doors.
Yes, it is beautiful, I liked it too!
David, are you still gone?
I have to buy a laptop, mine died. I will use it to type books I’ve written, Internet, and e-mail. I guess it better have the latest windows so it can talk to the largest number of other computers. Recommendations, please.
Glories of the 1980s.
I had one of the dual cassette models for a few years.
Wirtschaftswunder
Patriarchy detected. They were “taken by surprise.”
It’s genuinely surprising how often that happens. Patriarchal wiles, I assume.
Recommendations, please.
Ugh. They pretty much all suck. Everything is built in China for the lowest BOM cost and QA is terrible. I’d ask what your budget is, but honestly anything less than $800CAD should be considered disposable (by contrast, I’m using a four-year-old Dell E7250 that’s still rocking along just fine).
Avoid Acer like the plague, they’re made of cardboard; I’m not a fan of the Dell and HP consumer line but their prosumer and engineering systems are good, if pricey. Asus seems to be holding the line on quality in the consumer space. Whatever you do, get as long a warranty as you can buy.
Thanks, Daniel!
From what my wife tells me NZ netball at the highest level have for years had a training programme playing mens teams.
Sound thinking I’d say. If you want to get better at something compete against those that are better than you.
Always respect the media.
Dear gawd, in the comments to that article, there’s a “masters in history” going by the name of “Trapper John” trying to claim that “Trump’s lies” are every bit as bad as those of the Soviet authorities after the Chernobyl disaster.
Well, not really.
Any linux box can do pretty much anything you’d want, assuming that you want to write a book or something. There are other formats than Microsoft Word; they can even be converted to MS word.
But, if you know Windows already and are happy with it, then don’t allow me to convince you otherwise. (I assume that you simply want to get something done and not mess around with operating systems; that’s perfectly reasonable.)
Hi Richard,
Yep, just want to get things done! 😊
yawhook: “Sound thinking I’d say. If you want to get better at something compete against those that are better than you.”
No, no, that’s not the modern way! Just complain that the other side aren’t really better than you, it’s ‘the system’ that makes it appear that way.
Morning, all.
Dear gawd,
If you think of Chernobyl as a horror story, it’s pretty clear from the first episode, the first scene, who, or rather what, the real monster of the story is. (There’s a wonderfully grotesque exchange early on in which the nuclear physicist Khomyuk is arguing with an obstructive Soviet bureaucrat, a former shoe factory worker, about the release of radioactive graphite, a reality that the apparatchik rejects as ideologically impossible and less important than the chance to indulge his class-war resentment of someone much smarter than he is.) And by the final episode it’s about as explicit as a thing could be.
But apparently, some critics will jump about on one leg to avoid the obvious. Which is just a tad ironic.
De-lurking to comment…
But apparently, some critics will jump about on one leg to avoid the obvious.
It is absurd to see, considering what Chernobyl is about. The show shocked and horrified me, even though I’ve heard stories of what the USSR was like and I’ve seen for myself the scars communism has left in the old Eastern Bloc countries. The soul-crushing awfulness of everything is what gets you (or got me, anyway). The whole country was just a meat grinder.
Anyway, I thought the show was admirably on-the-nose about the religious fervor of communism, the pervasive lies, the shabbiness of every machine and every building. That critics refuse to see it just tracks with the way communists today are somehow not run out of town on a rail, the way actual Nazis (justifiably) are.
De-lurking to comment…
Yay. Welcome aboard, madam.
I thought the show was admirably on-the-nose about the religious fervor of communism, the pervasive lies,
Absolutely. Almost every character is neurotic or resentful or obliged to lie. The scene mentioned above struck me as particularly telling. As if the sole consolation for all the dreariness and lies was the chance to be needlessly unpleasant to anyone over whom you had any kind of power. Sort of, ‘Everything is terrible and depressing, but at least I can frustrate and humiliate others.’ In fact, this is pretty much a recurring theme.
The soul-crushing awfulness of everything is what gets you
Yes, they captured that rather well, the air of squalor and decay. It reminded me of this video of a Moscow supermarket, in which unhappy-looking ladies poke at grey meat.
De-lurking to comment…
Ooh, a new commenter!
[slides jar of pickled eggs down to Lois]
Mr Reed said Hastings suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after suffering injuries to his bowel when he was stabbed with a samurai sword in an unprovoked attack.
Your burgled burglar. Leeds sounds like an interesting town.
Leeds sounds like an interesting town.
I wouldn’t go that far.
The public toilet baby holder is actually a great invention. There are a few times when I’d wished for something like that.
@LCoL: “Recommendations, please.”
I’m fairly IT savvy – I build my own desktops – and I’d always tried to find a sweet spot for laptops of specs and price. And always been a bit frustrated with them, so I figured last time round I’d see if it was a false economy. Turns out it was.
Current laptop was not cheap (I got a – very good and you’d never tell – ‘refurb’ and it was still £1500. But it’s fast, light, boots up in 5 seconds and can flip to be a tablet to read pdfs and, um, graphic novels. HP Spectre 360.
So my advice would be to pay a bit more than you think. I don’t ‘need’ the power in mine as I don’t use heavy software, but the power is noticable in everyday use as everything is fast and easy. If you don’t care about weight or screen flipping, you can pay a lot less than I did. If there is a focus, get as much RAM as you can.
Thank you!
Re the sword story: where is it, I couldn’t find it. And how come you can have swords in GB but not kitchen knives?
Altered Stone
Obviously the product of the Imperialist/ Colonialist/ Racist west.
This is the new standard of beauty
…the religious fervor of communism…
The religious fervour of an avowedly atheistic ideology, as it’s true it would be completely hilarious if not for the hundred million or so corpses left behind.
ideologically impossible
That.
That.
There’s also the scene in episode one, where Dyatlov, a bullying inadequate, browbeats his subordinates and denies the disaster that’s obviously unfolding, shouting defiantly, “You didn’t see graphite on the ground… You didn’t.” (Meaning, you cannot be allowed to acknowledge unauthorised reality.) His tirade is cut short by a fit of vomiting.
Leeds sounds like an interesting town.
I wouldn’t go that far.
The poet Sir John Betjeman takes an irreverent, eccentric look at the architecture of the place in this half-hour film from the late 1960s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J6E4w-AFAA Many of the buildings featured are still standing, and look a lot better now they’ve been cleaned of a century of accumulated muck and grime.
Enthusiastic newcomers.
Net contributors contributing netly. I always wondered what it looked like.
“Any Linux box can do pretty much anything you’d want…”
Yes, but that’s only for people who are fairly IT savvy.
Tesla vs Lovecraft is a game.
Lovecraft FTW every time as Tesla self-combusts and/or falls apart.
First the Planet of Teh Wymxn™, now Teh Planet of No Sex Binary™. You will be surprised to note the author of this Deep Thought™ is a visiting professor of sociology, you know he is profound by the stern look and goatee, although I don’t think there was any less of a sex binary before the Enlightenment, but then I am not a visiting professor of sociology.
Meanwhile, according to The Sun, researchers at Cambridge have discovered that if you are between 40 and 79, your chances of dying young can be reduced by exercise. It is unclear if young people can avoid dying young with this one simple trick.
Enthusiastic newcomers.
What exactly was it that was being celebrated?
The patriarchy happens in hockey too, unfortunately. The bias in the article is funny. The Canadian “men” are “midget” aged – ie 15 year olds. Plus, these “men’s” teams are made of of boys in one city – not the best of the best in the entire country like the grown women they are playing against. Add onto that they have to play the women’s rules – no body contact.
https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/2009-nwt-007-en
Altered stone.
From the comments:
Shaving was not at all uncommon back then as it tended to keep the lice problem under control, however, that brings us to the 21st century where a women’s razor company decides to run ads for their razors by promoting “body positivity” and , in a brave and stunning strategy, not shaving. (Work caution – the Daily Mail so no nudity but some bikini type pics you might regret even if not at work – click at your own risk).
More liveliness in London.
Part and parcel of living in a big city as the mayor would say, but it will all be sorted by these cool new £35,000 BMW sparky cars for the rozzers.
”And how come you can have swords in GB but not kitchen knives?”
I believe you can’t, but the authorities won’t know about Dad’s sword until you carry it in public.
I believe you can’t,
But those Congolese and Somali borra gangs, the ones enlivening London, have made large, sharp implements, including machetes, so terribly fashionable.
Are you abused by classical music ? This gentleman is.
OTOH, you just might be lousy as a composer.
PTSD from classical music and capitalism – OK, that is a new one.
Oh come on now, you knew that was where this was headed. RTWT, it is a unique rant by our author who manages to hit as many diversity bingo squares as he can, but, oddly enough claims to be influenced by several wypipo.
Western classical music is not about culture. It’s about whiteness.
Or, “Counterpoint is hard and that’s so unfair.”
Part and parcel of living in a big city as the mayor would say,
So vibrant.
So vibrant.
And all thanks to the notion, embraced by our betters, that you could import large numbers of savage morons from a place where savage morony is the norm, dump them in a sink estate where almost everything is alien, and somehow, by some magical process, the result would be mutually beneficial, fragrant and harmonious, and would in no way resemble a zombie apocalypse.
Or, “Counterpoint is hard and that’s so unfair.”
Having made the mistake of listening to bits of his recordings, there is that, I think, but the stuff pulled, apparently, out of his fourth point of contact is the kicker.
“The specious belief that whiteness has a culture…”, but of course blackness, browness, and every other hue does, regardless of the fact that among the hues there is a wide variety of cultures.
“Its main purpose is to be a cultural anchor for the myth of white supremacy.” Right, classical music is all about yte supremacy – OK, maybe some Wagner, but a Bach etude ?
Finally, what the hell does this guy want to be “liberated” from ? The unutterable anguish of being able to be a musician in 21st century America living in a city that bends over backwards for winners of diversity bingo ? The oppression his long lost ancestors felt under the Phrygians ?
The toilet baby holder is, of course, to be installed in men’s toilets too as we now know men can (and often do, unless they have opted for an abortion) have babies.
In other news, I will buy the Star Wars furniture if–and only if– it allows me to zap the person in the other chair when they least expect it. I like the idea of laser beams blasting across the living room, especially during the ad breaks in Corrie.
I have to buy a laptop, mine died.
What part of it died? If the main processor is still ok most component parts can be purchased really cheap these days and there are dozens of very good diy videos on youtube.
My hard drive died on my 4-year-old laptop. I bought a new solid-state drive and doubled the RAM for under $100. It runs faster than a lot of brand new machines. The most complex things I run are spreadsheets and Access databases.
I did the same thing with my wife’s 2008 Macbook Pro and it zips along. She doesn’t do anything more taxing than email, internet and the odd word document.
If you’re buying new, get the best processor you can afford and then swap out the RAM and hard drive yourself. There are some cheap machines on the market that are still using Celeron processors. Avoid them, they are crap. The price will make you happy but you’ll be dissatisfied with the performance right from the start.
This is the new standard of beauty
WTF? “Disumbrationism”, a modern-art hoax perpetrated by author Paul Jordan Smith aka “Pavel Jerdanowitch” actually became real.
Thank you, Steve E!
WTF? “Disumbrationism”, a modern-art hoax perpetrated by author Paul Jordan Smith aka “Pavel Jerdanowitch” actually became real.
Because only a true artist would deny being an artist. Now f*** off.
Because only a true artist would deny being an artist.
Indeed, from Miss Gould at the article:
It is almost as if Miss Gould is in denial about being duped herself.
Welp, just got word from Microsoft that my Win7 won’t be supported as of 2020, which means if I want to stay safe online I’ll have to buy a new box.
(My current box is from 2007. I tried adding more RAM, and despite my best efforts it increased it only a tick. And when I upgraded to a free W10 when it first came out, running time was so sluggish my productivity went down as my blood pressure went up.)
Worse, I doubt I’ll be able to reload my Office 2007 since they’re no longer keeping track of licenses, which means probably buying Word 2020 (I’m never paying for subscriptions) or using OpenOffice for everything else.
This is why I still use Fireworks 3 from 1995 to manipulate art. Works fine, and not vulnerable to the licensing mothership.
Welp, just got word from Microsoft that my Win7 won’t be supported as of 2020, which means if I want to stay safe online I’ll have to buy a new box.
It’s possible that Win10 will run fine on your current box. Worth checking, unless you just want to get a newer more powerful box anyway.
This is the new standard of beauty
I’m not clicking that. This isn’t my first time round these here parts, Jonathan.
What exactly was it that was being celebrated?
The French World Cup victory.
What?
We will no longer depend on white elites to fund diversity initiatives and hope it trickles down.
Whew thank goodness! Glad that’s finally been settled.
I tried adding more RAM, and despite my best efforts it increased it only a tick.
Adding RAM is only effective if you’re running multiple applications at one time or you’re working with large files that require multi-calculations.
Swapping out your old hard drive for a solid state drive will make a huge, immediate difference in performance in everything from boot-up to playing video files. Depending on your processor an ssd can eliminate the spinning wheel of death. I just bought a 500GB solid state drive for $40 and I use the old 1TB hard drive as an external drive to back up my system.
“Adding RAM is only effective if you’re running multiple applications…”
You can see how much is being used with the Windows Task Manager.
Also via the great DiCentra, a heart-rending tale of wokeish hand-wringing about the author of a popular series of children’s books. Thankfully all is resolved in the end (Voldemort wins): https://mobile.twitter.com/ElizabethClaret/status/1143328338041176064
…which means if I want to stay safe online I’ll have to buy a new box.
What Tovarich Cranium said, Linux is your friend, whether you buy a new box with some version of it pre-installed, or set it up on your current machine.
Either way, you are free forever of the BS subscription software nonsense* as well as from Apple and Microsoft, though most of their stuff can be made to run on most Linux versions with minimal hassle if you don’t like the open source clones which are nigh identical in function and feel (e.g., Libre Office Writer and MS Word pre ribbon fiasco) and often come built in.
Contrary to popular belief you don’t have to be a super geek to set up or use Linux.
*(Almost all versions and software for it are free, BTW)
Nice to see a police agency with all real crime in the area solved …
BTW … this is one of my favorite local eateries. If you find yourself in SoCal, I happily recommend it. The dirty fries are especially good.
Thanks, Farnsworth!
I think Mr. Elizabeth Claret has much bigger problems than Harry Potter. 😄
I hear y’all’s Computer advice and I’m gonna take that into account over the next couple of months as I try to figure out what to do. Thanks.
Hi Uma,
Your computer died too?
All those neat conveniences in Japan, and they don’t know how to keep a house warm in winter…
If it weren’t for the stuff the Smithstonian has stored there, I’d nuke DC in a heartbeat.
Oh, wait. Non-persistent nerve gas would kill all the people and leave the stuff behind. I’ll start dreaming for that instead.
That was similar to the BS stated about neutron bombs in the 80s; the difference being that nerve gas kills unprotected people (like civilians in basements) versus people surrounded by large amounts of metal (like tank crewmen with their gas mask and perhaps overpressure system).
Oh my lord, but this sets my heart racing.
Not the best place to preen.
Via Julia.
Not the best place to preen.
‘Our betters’.
‘Our betters’.
As noted in the Twitter thread, the sign disdaining national borders is attached to a security fence – one of many miles of fencing erected to keep unauthorised people out, at an event that charges £250 for admittance and employs hundreds of security guards, and which liaises with national security services to deter terrorist attacks, and which warns attendees to watch out for strangers who may try to steal their belongings, which should always be hidden, and to “only bring what you can afford to lose.”
So, the level of self-awareness isn’t high.
The UK would be better off if the under thirties, and anyone who has ever attended Glastonbury, had the franchise removed. Change my mind.
So, the level of self-awareness isn’t high.
This week attendees at the Democrat “debate” shrieked in orgasmic delight when the first ten malcontents on stage declared unanimous support for – get this – free programs for illegal immigrants. This is the same faction of half-wits who opposed illegal immigration tooth and nail when the clown show known as the Bush Administration supported it because it built, it was asserted, Republican voter rolls. “Those jobs ain’t coming back” was the interchangeable slogan for at least sixteen years.
The level of self-awareness hasn’t been high.
All those neat conveniences in Japan, and they don’t know how to keep a house warm in winter…
Sure they don’t.
“We need more third-world immigrants to take care of us when we get old…”
Today it will be 28°C (82°F). I am staying indoors. I have purchased ice cream.
Ha! We laugh at your 82! Yesterday we hit 91, should be about the same today.
When it comes to temperature, I have narrow tolerances. Though in most other respects I’m glorious and inspirational.
What flavor ice cream did you get? Do they sell Breyer’s in the UK? They make the best strawberry & Philadelphia-vanilla I’ve ever found.
What flavor ice cream did you get?
[ Rummages in freezer. ]
Chocolate fudge brownie.
Do they sell Breyer’s in the UK?
I believe I’ve seen it, yes. Though not in the petrol station I visited this morning.
Hell, the water is 89F in our lakes right now.
The UK would be better off if the under thirties, and anyone who has ever attended Glastonbury, had the franchise removed. Change my mind.
Don’t know about the UK, but a more reasonable solution on this side of the pond would be to cut out all guarantees for student loans and make the little buggers get jobs and pay taxes. But of course suggesting such a thing is regarded as similarly unreasonable. And they wonder why “extremists” get so much support.
Hell, the water is 89F in our lakes right now.
Yes, but this is Britain, home of chill and drizzle. Any kind of heat is alarming.
Once again, San Francisco, of course.
It will only cost $600,000 to remove it which is pretty steep for two gallons of paint, a roller and two hours of work, but a bargain for “reparations”.
Yes, but this is Britain, home of chill and drizzle. Any kind of heat is alarming.
Meanwhile in Germany…
Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/06/26/naked-man-riding-scooter-heatwave-tells-german-police-hot-10077649/?ito=cbshare
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/
Is any wonder you folks can’t get along?
“It’s never been an attention thing…”
You bought chocolate fudge brownie when you could have bought HUMP FAT flavor ice cream?
Next time you’re at Petrol station, look for Breyer’s vanilla. Yum.
“It’s never been an attention thing…”
Heh. More power to him. Anything to get us out of this cargo shorts and t-shirt culture is FBM. And I say this as I sit here in gym shorts and a t-shirt.
[ Straightens tie. ]
(If this shows up three times, blame the internet…)
“Glories of the 1980s.”
Nice to see a Techmoan link. It is the most ’80s thing ever, isn’t it?
“Many of the buildings featured are still standing, and look a lot better now they’ve been cleaned of a century of accumulated muck and grime.”
Stonecleaning was one of the late 20th Century’s finest inventions. As Billy Conolly said of Glasgow, it’s as if someone figured out how to open the sunroof.
“Yes, but that’s only for people who are fairly IT savvy.”
Not really. My brother’s been using Linux Mint for years, and he wouldn’t know one end of a shell command from the other. But I take the same attitude as Richard these days regarding OS evangelism: use what works for you.
“Western classical music is not about culture. It’s about whiteness.”
Nobody tell the Asians.
“Oh my lord, but this sets my heart racing.”
It’s rather awesome. See also this series. I won’t lie: the moment they got it to run a self-test for the first time (episode 13, a few days ago), I had a tear in my eye.
I always say that although everyone was aware that it was a momentous event, I’m not sure anyone at the time appreciated how momentous. Like Caesar and King Tut, Apollo 11 will be general knowledge long after WWII, the Berlin Wall, even the American revolution, have become footnotes for ancient-history nerds.
And I missed it by two years, dammit. Get a move on, Musk, or I’ll end up missing Mars too.
“Ha! We laugh at your 82! Yesterday we hit 91, should be about the same today.”
Barely breaking 70 here. That’s pretty good for us. Raining, of course, but it always does that.
“It’s never been an attention thing…”
Did you notice that he’s wearing makeup to make his cheeks pink?
My dad and I watched the original moon landing on TV. I can still remember how excited we were.🌙
Nobody tell the Asians.
Or this chap.
Anything to get us out of this cargo shorts and t-shirt culture is FBM.
This slob culture cannot go away too soon for me.
My dad and I watched the original moon landing on TV.
Tiny black-and-white TV screen, grainy images, but unforgettable, and the graininess added to the emotional impression that this was something happening far away. At school the teachers would wheel medium sized (for the sixties) black-and-white TV’s into the classroom so we could watch Mercury launches and splashdowns. Even in the middle of the city (thanks to far less nighttime lights) you could look up and see Echo satellite pass overhead.
Did you notice that he’s wearing makeup to make his cheeks pink?
Give the poor lad time and he’ll discover Joe Biden aviators, muscle tees, and a couple square feet of tats as reliable bellwethers of proper civilization.
Joe Biden aviators
Hah. Hadn’t heard that before, and hadn’t seen Biden in sunglasses before. It’s funny, because to me those glasses don’t have any associations with unlikable politicians but just say “WWII aviator.” I still have my Dad’s pair, in their box and case, with interchangable colored lenses, which he brought home after the war (along with flight jacket, ammo cases, and ID plates for Lockheed bomber engines.)
Even in the middle of the city (thanks to far less nighttime lights) you could look up and see Echo satellite pass overhead.
Summer of 1969…I just turned 15 and the family was gathered around the tv watching the moon landing. Afterwards, I walked out into the front yard with my grandpa (b. 1901) and we looked up at a full moon in the evening sky. After a moment he said “You know, if I had told my friends when we were kids that we’d live to see men on the moon, they would have called me crazy.”
Yes, but this is Britain, home of chill and drizzle. Any kind of heat is alarming.
I can understand this … 82 is absolutely the weather I love in SoCal… anything below 72 and I’m wearing a sweater. We have had one of the coolest Junes on record and July looks to be at or below normal. If we could get through July with no triple-digit days, that would be heaven.
The snowpack in the Sierras was so heavy this past winter, Mammoth Mountain is still operating their ski lifts.
I didn’t cover the pros and cons of different operating systems because I thought the Linux Youth had all grown up and got real jobs.
Linux on anything but a server or embedded firmware is a non-starter, by design.
If the only things you want to do with it are write novels, web browsing and email, a MacBook isn’t a bad choice if it’s in your budget. You’re going to pay a premium for the Apple brand name, but the hardware quality is good to excellent, post-sales technical support is better than average and things tend to Just Work. There’s less software available for it generally, but since a lot of writers/creatives use Macs that’s not likely to affect you as that market is well served. Get one that’s less than three years old for maximum compatibility.
If a MacBook isn’t in your budget, I’d recommend a 2-3 year old professional-class Windows laptop over a new one aimed at the consumer market. If you can get an extended warranty the pro laptop will last you a lot longer and you’ll be able to get repairs and parts for it more easily. You’ll want to do some reviews of any particular model, though, as brand is no longer a guarantee of quality (all major laptop manufacturers outsource their design and manufacture to a constantly shifting set of lowest bidding subcontractors, so it’s a crap shoot who made your particular laptop).
“Linux on anything but a server or embedded firmware is a non-starter, by design.”
[Looks up from a session of Elite: Dangerous under SteamPlay. Shrugs.]
82 is absolutely the weather I love in SoCal
This is my horrified face. I’m happy around 18°C (64°F). Two degrees higher and the complaining ensues.
This is my horrified face.
And yet “mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.”
Reads like parody but the little fascist is serious.
Hi Daniel
Can you tell me how to identify professional-class laptops?
Crazy baseball game going on in London right now. Yankees vs Rd Sox 6-6 in the bottom of the first. Both starting pitchers are already out of the game.
The Brits are going to think baseball really is like cricket if they keep scoring this many runs. Although it helps that the centerfield fence is only 385 feet.