I’m Expecting Gasps, Applause

Happy blog birthday!

Oh, and you may want a moment to process this.
“I would prefer not to.”

Lots of drama at the New York Times this week:
– Veteran reporter Don McNeil is forced out after having dared not to use the ‘N-word’ euphemism when referring to said word. A letter signed by 150 New York Times staffers asking their publisher to continue the inquisition of McNeil contains the remarkable declaration that ‘intent is irrelevant‘. John McWhorter has a good essay on Substack about how this ends up being yet another example of the soft bigotry of low expectations.
– Taylor Lorenz falsely accused Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen of saying ‘retard’, when in fact (a) it wasn’t him and (b) there was no reason for censure, even if he had said it. Felicia Horowitz – blessedly, a Woman of Colour – was explaining that WallStreetBets users describe themselves as the ‘retard revolution’. More from Glenn Greenwald here.

Given that the New York times ‘[does] not tolerate racist language regardless of intent’, the Washington Free Beacon asked Nicole Hannah-Jones whether it was appropriate for her to have used that dreaded word in the past. Rather than reply to the journalist, she posted his email to Twitter, including his phone number (ultimately deleting it a day later).

Here’s to 14 more.
*hits tip jar*

Happy birthday! Although I am mostly a lurker – and part of my Sunday morning oasis of predawn calm is to click on your Friday ephemera links – one must acknowledge a birthday, so … ping!

Let me brighten everyone’s day with this good news from CityLab:
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/there-s-no-such-thing-as-a-dangerous-neighborhood
Thank God for academics to set us straight on this–although this fellow does seem to have a bit of trouble staying on message:
“The knowledge that we’ve gained since 1982 unequivocally tells us something else: Serious violence is extremely concentrated in very particular places and, most importantly, among very particular people. Dispelling the notion of “dangerous neighborhoods,” extensive research on geographic concentration has consistently found that around half of all crime complaints or incidents of gun violence concentrated at about 5 percent of street segments or blocks in a given city.”
Many more facts getting bludgeoned into lifeless non-sequiturs at the link.

I think Cody has been listening to Titania McGrath, but didn’t understand the irony.

“quit”…. bloody spellcheck. Doh.
Yes, yes, “preview is…” and all that.

Possible addition to the punishment cave
I prefer the term moral realignment lounge. It’s softer, more inviting. Puts people at ease.

Anyone want to make book on whether she gripes about her student loans being unaffordable?
How dare you mock our fearless, thrusting journalists? Ms Lorenz is a “young influential,” which is apparently a noun now, and is “shaping media, marketing and tech.” Also “memes and social media.”
See their fearlessness. Feel them thrust.

Today is this blog’s birthday. Fourteen bloody years.
Felicitations, David. Here’s to many more to come. And since this is an open thread, today’s words are dishonesty and gaslighting:
https://twitter.com/PolitiFact/status/1358810121183330304

“Fourteen bloody years.”
Only four more and we can buy it a drink.

Only four more and we can buy it a drink.
15 will get you 20…

Only four more and we can buy it a drink.
Like I’d let this virginal young thing go drinking with the likes of you.

I come from the world of Instagram.

I doubt it comes in peace.

When you fling your detergent liquitab into the washing machine, may it never rebound and roll across the floor.
LOL. Husband does that all the time. Must be a man thing.

Isn’t “To Serve Man” a bit, oh, gender-specific?
Oh, BTW, *ping*.

Congrats from a longtime fan.
Here’s an interesting app/website. Has anyone heard of this Radio Garden thing? Click on a dot on the globe and hear a radio station from (supposedly) anywhere in the world.
http://radio.garden/live/toulouse/radiopresence

Oh, BTW, *ping*.
Bless you, sir. May your enemies know the aggravation of trying to find a simple, elegant men’s watch, without the usual encrustations of bulk and visual clutter.

That radio station link appears to be limited to stations that simulcast on the web. Still interesting.

Small donation. Not enough for Seamless avocado toast though.
Not sure I’m ready for that kind of, er, fine dining. And bless you, sir. May you know the combination of fresh snowfall and oddly pink late-afternoon light.

AKA Romeo and Joliet…
A joke that will undoubtedly require some explanation for our overseas… brethren. And sisteren.

Like I’d let this virginal young thing go drinking with the likes of you.
The parents are always the last to know.

The parents are always the last to know.
Heh.
Meanwhile, in the Guardian:

“It remains one of the enduring symbols of white male supremacy.”

It also adds a little colour, if inclined, and hides the buttons.

Ping!
Bless you, sir. May you never be bedeviled by recently expired condiments and subsequent fretting about exactly how far past a best-by date is within human tolerance.

I quickly searched the origin of the modern necktie, and came upon this website: https://www.tie-a-tie.net/the-evolution-of-the-necktie/ . I did not attempt a deep dive into the origins of the necktie.
Nowhere does this article (chosen, admittedly, from the top of the search) mention the phallic nature of the thing, nor does it mention its relationship with the codpiece.
In addition, the author fails to note that the codpiece itself came into existence because at the time, pants (note the plural) were two hose that covered the legs, unattached in the middle. The codpiece was to ensure the man was not hanging out all over the place, or displaying his dirty underwear.
The distaste for all things masculine is clearly a bit of a fetish here. An antifetish?

“It remains one of the enduring symbols of white male supremacy.”

For those unfamiliar, the necktie is derived from the codpiece…

One sentence later…

The modern tie’s origins lie in the cravat…

One wonders if these idiots actually read what they write.

Today, the necktie retains its connection with the codpiece through its arrow shaped design and length that directs the eye of an onlooker down towards a man’s groin.

Oh.
A connection in much the same way apples and lug wrenches are connected. I think someone strained herself with that logic leap, but I guess now she’ll claim a square end knit tie is a symbol that the wearer has been circumcised.

Thanks David, your efforts are appreciated more than any other time!
I don’t like to throw around the word hero, or gorgeous, but I’m the only thing stopping the world from shattering into atoms.
What?

One wonders if these idiots actually read what they write.
Given the current trajectories of clickbait journalism, political purity spirals, and overall declining IQs how long will it be until the bots writing these “articles” just have a template reading:

Would be far more efficient. Wait, don’t men value efficiency or something?…ah nevermind.

Gosh! Finally successfully hit the tip jar! May your henchlesbians never be cancelled for transphobic behaviour.

BRAVO !
GREAT BLOG…
MERCI !!

AKA Romeo and Joliet…
A joke that will undoubtedly require some explanation for our overseas… brethren. And sisteren.
In the Jimmy Buffett song, the chorus goes:
15 will get you 20, but that’s all right
Cause we’ll be rockin’ and a rollin’ on a Livingston Saturday Night
I’m embarrassed to admit how many years passed before I caught the reference*
* In the U.S., bedding a 15-year-old girl could get you a 20-year term in pokey.**
** Girl= “San Quentin Quail” which not coincidentally was a character name W.C. Fields tried to insert into a script. The studio was not amused.

Is this provocative enough?

https://mobile.twitter.com/mikaelthalen/status/1359209202292428800?fbclid=iwar3ubgvehecdx9rshg1hrbjpcvbrhhzzuytwkedpkatig3fsrrdvltkcbnm
I’m not a cat.

The cracker barrel held soda crackers for sale – dry, white, unsweetened…biscuits? Before the days of plastic and cardboard, stuff in large quantities was shipped in wooden barrels. Way before the Whole Foods bulk section was trendy, people bought foodstuffs in bulk, from wooden barrels and crates, cloth sacks. Once better packaging materials were invented, and better ways to preserve baked foods, we got the boxes and wrapped sleeves familiar today.
Whips may have been manufactured on large scale, and may have been shipped in barrels, but I’m guessing crates. Anyone who drove a horse and buggy/cart/wagon used a whip – they weren’t used only by slavers. Ye gods these people make my head hurt.
[makes reservation for an extended session in the moral realignment lounge]
Something I read in the comments to one of these insane twit threads: If it wasn’t for the slave trade, the US would be a lot less Diverse today. A lot of these same assholes who are demanding reparations and screaming Racism today would still be in Africa murdering each other in bloody tribal wars. Although I suspect some of the loudest screamers are soda cracker white and just stirring shit up.
[goes off for regrooving after expressing SuperDoublePlusUngoodWrongthink]

Yes, these people make my head hurt too. Ignorant, stupid, uneducated, ineducable, insufferable.
And in charge.

And in charge.
Well, sometimes. There are also a lot of urban welfare-moochers and baristas spouting this sort of nonsense.

Via Ace…if this doesn’t put a nail in the coffin of the concept of critical thinking…sorry, lost my train of thought…
https://mobile.twitter.com/keenanpeachy/status/1359240907011149828?s=21

David! Would you please unlock the Correction Booth?

“A lot of these same assholes who are demanding reparations and screaming Racism today would still be in Africa murdering each other in bloody tribal wars.”
My wife heard this from an Air Force sergeant who came back from a tour in Africa: “I’m so glad my ancestors were dumb enough to be captured by slavers.”

Maybe I should have written “done competently”. 😀
Although that was a sobering thought, when Jordan Peterson pointed out in one of his lectures that about 15% of the population has an IQ of about 80 or less, and he asked ‘what are we going to do about these people in an increasingly technological society?’

I’m more than half convinced the whole thing is a windup for clicks.
I didn’t think of that possibility. But I see that she is crowdfunding and has raised at least $12,000, so “follow the money” makes sense. But I would not rule out that she is so stupid that she really thinks she has been wronged: The internet does make it easy for idiots to solicit donations from other idiots.
Am I the only one who noticed the practical impossibility of “Shot 5 times by 12 police officers”?
No absurdity is too absurd for the BLM crowd. (Although you could speculate that 12 officers fired dozens of times and only hit the perp 5 times.) That was the incident in Ireland where a black thug threatened restaurant staff, assaulted the manager with machete, went on a spree, and was finally shot dead when he tried to decapitate a police officer with that machete. Most of the 12 police officers were unarmed and were trying to “deescalate” the situation. Eventually a few armed officers arrived and did what needed to be done. Goodbye to animal–sorry, good boy.

what are we going to do about these people in an increasingly technological society?’
A good number of people whom I have known whom I would not describe as being all that bright (maybe not 80 IQ but somewhat below average) have done well for themselves. Meanwhile many high IQ people that I have known are failures. As I believe Thomas Sowell has pointed out, stupid people are (usually) limited in the damage that they can do due to their stupidity holding them back. If you want something really screwed up, the hubris of smart people is far more dangerous.

Meanwhile many high IQ people that I have known are failures.
See Mensa. 🙁

In Victorian times a man’s legs were referred to in polite society as his “understandings”
Are you sure? The Sherlock Holmes stories mention the legs of men and women and tables.

Are you sure? The Sherlock Holmes stories mention the legs of men and women and tables.
Victorian porn.

I have always understood that the Vikings all around Europe and the Mediterranean and the ‘winning’ African tribes kept slavers and were major suppliers of slaves through history. The Romans and Greeks also took and kept slaves as did other ‘nations’ or empires.

a bit of something to help keep the boat docks in order. Ping
Bless you, sir. When venturing outside in several inches of snow, may you know the quiet confidence of wearing thermal long johns.

David – in a previous post: “Some clever kids… learn to give up, leaving school with grades well out of step with their intelligence, or dropping out altogether… ”
That describes my younger brother who saw me being bullied without mercy – we are both autistic – so he hid in plain site by joining in with the ‘deros’ and simply mucking up so they, in his year, did not turn on him. Toward the end of year 10 the school suggested an academic curriculum was not for him. He left school and took up an apprenticeship in electronics with the national Telecom organisation. He thrived and, when computers came along, taught himself programming and shifted into IT. Eventually he rewrote the computer billing program for Telecom nation-wide, saving the organisation $Amillions per year. God knows what his IQ is – I’m sure it’s probably well above the 95th. percentile. When at school, being ‘different’ means you’re marked.