Friday Ephemera
Helping hound. (h/t, Darleen) || Major sheddage. || Adventure sheet offers wetness protection. || A guide to the immune system and its tiny, violent dramas. || Upscaled micro-organisms. || New York, 1900. || On the neurotic farce of woke classical music. (h/t, Sue Sims) || Sales may have suffered. || Field lines detected. || Colliding light. || “The toilet… can generate half a kilowatt hour of electricity.” || It ain’t the years, it’s the mileage. || Snack bar of yore. || Bicycles for animals. || London Picture Archive. (h/t, Things) || Leftist parenting. || A pathologically self-involved nightmare on legs. || Racial narcissism. || Lo and behold. || And finally, progressively, “I’m going to try my best to respect that.”
It’s difficult to understand how anyone, at any stage of this idiot project, thought it might be a good idea.
What’s worse to me is that – and if you’ve not been there yourself, no photos or videos seem to quite capture it – the ambience of the original (i.e. 19th century) triumphal arch is already somewhat spoiled by the incessant traffic flowing behind and to either side of it from the many long-distance coaches coming from all over the north and Scotland that pass that way.
To build anything aimed at tourists on that particular spot already strikes me as moronic.
To dump that piece of shit there is so moronic that it’s no surprise whatsoever to see that they got rinsed for £6,000,000 quid.
No to worry though – they’re now going to hold A review to “understand what went wrong and ensure it never happens again”.
That report ends with this quote from council leader Rachael Robathan:
“The mound may delight or divide views and that’s OK, but we’re confident that in the end it will fulfil its original brief – to get people back into the West End and remind them of why this is a world-class city.”
Honk! as they say!
I was really hoping the then and now pictures were going to turn into a Keith Richards gag.
A tragedy occurs.
Comment from Paul Mason.
Comment from whoever this is.
Comment from Ben Sixsmith.
after a kid like this finishes her video, she falls into the nearest chair, laughing like crazy
Never underestimate the ability of teenage girls (or those possessing the mentality of same) to take themselves deadly seriously.
whoever this is
Translations for the non-deluded:
“I’ve spent a lot of time on incel forums” – I’ve spent a lot of time on Twitter.
“… and what I found is a community invested in white male supremacy” – Some men were talking.
“… fascistic notions of nature” – about how biology is real,
“… far-right conspiracy” – about voting for Trump,
“… and men being radicalised to hate and normalise violence” – and football.
You’re welcome.
Heh. Well played, sir.
That’s what the urine-covered weasel said!
Lo and behold.
Lovely.
Government priorities.
The federal transportation minister has just announced that all federal employees and all commercial air and train passengers will have to be vaccinated.
I suppose if I start hiking now I might make it to the border before they start coming door to door.
all commercial air and train passengers will have to be vaccinated
I actually thought that was a joke. But then I remember when the West used to sneer at the authoritarian Chinese government. Not emulate them.
But firstly I’d like to know why it isn’t possible for public servants to have things built for the contracted price?
There are, I think, two factors.
The first is, when public sector organisations put contracts out to tender, they normally announce ahead of time that they will accept the lowest bid. All the bidders massively underbid, and because the winning contractor can’t make a profit on what they bid, they then massively overcharge to compensate.
The other is the fact that, if everything goes to shit, the public will blame the government, not the contractor, so the contractor has the government over a barrel.
The first is, when public sector organisations put contracts out to tender,
Also, what gets delivered in the end seldom matches the RFP. What the government agency asks for seldom matches what they really want or need. So, almost from day one, the change orders start and the cost goes up with each change. The people working on the bureaucracy side face no real consequences. They don’t have to make a profit and usually get every increase they ask for.
“All the bidders massively underbid”
Perhaps.
Hereabouts our country road connecting two state highways has been shut down for several years pending reconstruction of a bridge. Every time the Supervisors put out a RFP, the bids come back higher than ever. What started out at an unacceptably unaffordable $3.2 million most recently reached $6.4 million.
In the interim, the old bridge has been creatively repurposed as a fishing platform during the day, and a brothel at night.
And the traffic barriers constructed have been cut down by locals to allow for two-way crossings by ATVs.
People gonna peep while government sleep.
the contractor has the government over a barrel
I think we both know that’s bollocks. Though I’m sure you’re correct about the underbidding process.
Despite what I implied earlier I have a pretty good idea why Government contracts with private companies are so ineptly written that the company can charge extra for any absurd cost it can dream up. And that’s without even considering the very real likelihood of simple fraud.
1) The people negotiating the contract on the Government’s behalf used to work for the bidding company, are currently working for that company, or hope to work for the company in the future.
2) The people negotiating the contract on the Government’s behalf don’t give a shit how much money it loses because it’s not their money.
One comment on the Czech centenarians: of the early pictures, over half were taken when the country was under Nazi occupation (just before or during World War II). Yet those pictures don’t reflect that condition.
It’s difficult to understand how anyone, at any stage of this idiot project, thought it might be a good idea.
A few years ago, Sydney’s fabulous Lord Mayor announced a proposal to erect a giant milk crate (designed by a Japanese artist) in a city park, at a cost of a mere $1M.
It subsequently turned out that Melbourne already had a giant milk crate. So, with any copyright issue off the table, a local builder did some calculations and offered to build said crate for $60,000. Asked about the builder’s proposal, a Mayoral spokesperson exclaimed “But he’s not an artist!”
Unfortunately the giant crate has not yet materialised.
Re Czech centenarians: I am struck by the fact that in many cases the ears in the later pictures are quite different from the ears in the early pictures. Do ears keep growing during adulthood?
Official Disney Junior YouTube channel presents the Muppet Babies, with Gonzo who wants to go to the ball as Gonzorella. NOT a parody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkyaenLCZ8k&list=PL2m1vjiMH_hM9g0g5HBXcVl-BoJ293vkv&index=3
A glorious future awaits for you.
£1 a ticket, win £20 of sausages…..
Yep. Amazing that the economics and exchange rates transfers across the world. $2 here (NZ) a ticket – and maybe win $30 of meat. Won a tray of chops last night… and of course it is a given that we all win a lot more than we lose.
Endless, convoluted self-definition.
@Nikw211: for a supposedly misogyistic gunman he seems to have… not targeted only women.
Perhaps he didn’t want to assume anyone’s gender?
Hi LW,
Yes, they do. So does your nose.
@JuliaM: Not unlike the fallout from the Isla Vista shootings, there’s a certain type of activist absolutely determined to exploit this awful happening for political capital.
While I suppose that’s to be expected of any crisis or tragedy, I am nevertheless alarmed by what this type of activist seems to be concerned to assert:
That we live in a Patriarchy; that Patriarchy is ideological; that since Patriarchy is ideological, any and all acts of violence against women and girls (VAWG) are ideologically-informed; that any act of VAWG is therefore an act of political terrorism.
Hence the need to present “InCels” as a movement and to classify acts such as this as terrorism.
I know the BBC comes in for a lot of stick, and often this is deserved, but in episode 3 of history documentary Berlin 1945, the diary entry of 18 year-old Berliner, Brigitte Eicke, is read out by an actress.
Eicke’s diary entry reads:
In the new AntiFa office, work is fun. It feels like they want the same thing as the Nazis – just under a different name.
There are the same expectations, the same manners of speaking. The young people, they say, are working best.
The ones that are most suited to become team leaders are usually the Hitler Youth leaders
For reasons I assume will be clear, I thought this might be of interest to others.
Endless, convoluted self-definition.
You know I actually found that video a refreshing change from the usual horror show freak instructing me on how to behave so as to conform to their delusions.
Here we have a child simply explaining how having never really felt happy in herself, she went to watch The Lord of the Rings (or something) and suddenly realised that she’s actually an elf.
Anyway, refreshing.
At least until she starts aggressively demanding that people address her as “Queen of the Nibelungs”.
It’s probably a good thing that she hadn’t gone to see Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”.
Nikw211: The wife and I recently watched the BBC Victorian Slum reality series, in which a number of families were made to live in slum-like conditions for what appeared to be several weeks. The producers simulated the experiences of each decade, from 1860 to 1900.
On the whole, it was surprisingly balanced, although still leaning left. They talked about how the slum conditions were created, and how it was difficult to find jobs, and how many refugees flooded Britain that created the crowded conditions and low wages, but never explicitly made the connection.
They also described the attempts to mitigate the worst of the conditions and explicitly pointed out how it made things worst for the inhabitants. For example, they built housing for the poor, without consulting with them, so they threw up these beautiful structures but forbid them to operate a business out of them. Considering that the majority of them were making matchboxes, gluing flowers, sewing clothes to make money from their home, this was a scheme designed to fail.
The one thing they deliberately omitted was that the concept of the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor actually exists, as any minister who has dealt with them will tell you. I remember a good reverend at our church tell us the first thing a person of the cloth learns is you always give vouchers for aid to someone knocking on the parish door. Never, ever cash.
The one thing they deliberately omitted was that the concept of the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor actually exists, as any minister who has dealt with them will tell you.
Somewhat related.
As is this.
The one thing they deliberately omitted was that the concept of the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor actually exists
Alfred Doolittle agrees.
Reality is indifferent to your obsessions.
Wow. I remember reading Shaw back in college, but seeing this now, after a bit of life experience, and it’s quite amusing.
Pity Shaw was such a cold-hearted bastard.
Wokeness in therapy — now even the most intimate of personal is political.
Pity Shaw was such a cold-hearted bastard.
And yet he saw himself as virtually the apotheosis of benevolence.
Wokeness in therapy — now even the most intimate of personal is political.
What could go wrong? /sarcasm
Patient: I and my husband of 50 years were waylaid by a gang of thugs who shouted anti-Asian slurs as they beat us. He died. I spent 3 weeks in hospital. Now I have nightmares and cannot leave the house without shaking in fear.
Therapist: Were the assailants black?
Patient: Yes.
Therapist: You need to work on your racism, you Nazi.
Wokeness in therapy — now even the most intimate of personal is political.
The Soviet Union was notorious for weaponizing psychotherapy against political enemies. Once again the American left emulates the worst possible models.
Note the author of the linked column, Sally Satel. She has written a number of worthwhile books, including P.C. M.D. and One Nation Under Therapy.
At the mention of Alfred Doolittle I automatically assumed it would be the Rex Harrison/Audrey Hepburn/Stanley Holloway musical. I’m very tempted to try and watch this earlier incarnation.
I’m very tempted to try and watch this earlier incarnation.
It’s much more faithful to the original play…and Leslie Howard (who plays Henry Higgins) was a fine actor.
Agreed. I am particularly fond of watching him in Pimpernel Smith.
Good thing that I’ve viewed such therapy as bullshit; I suspect that Mr. Ream will ream me over that comment.
As is this.
David, you keep writing “Answers on a postcard, please” but where does one buy postcards nowadays?
In the U.S. you can get them at any post office.
In the U.S. you can get them at any post office.
What’s a post office?
What’s a post office?
It’s a government building of variable size filled with letters and parcels, but that’s not important right now.
Even with people at their most vulnerable. Or perhaps especially when…
Even with people at their most vulnerable.
We’ll give that one a post of its own, I think.
Comments that-a-way.
Good thing that I’ve viewed such therapy as bullshit; I suspect that Mr. Ream will ream me over that comment
Most therapy is bullshit, in that it either doesn’t work or can’t be determined to work or not. I opine here at great length about the root causes of many personality disorders, but I’ve always been candid about the fact that precisely due to the underlying etiology they’re effectively untreatable. Symptom management is about the best one can hope for.
It’s a government building of variable size filled with letters and parcels, but that’s not important right now.
And don’t call me Shirley.
I apologize for misrepresenting your stance on the subject.