Friday Ephemera
Like apple bobbing. || Modern problems, a possible series. || Limited edition of note. (h/t, STG) || Daddy-daughter time. || Dad moves deployed. || Maximum style points. || Meet the neighbours. || Snowball fights in art. || Life skills. || Flag mystery. || A lot can happen in a minute. || At last, a mushroom colour chart. || Size matters. || Sounds from around the world. (h/t, Things) || A guide to San Francisco’s street faeces. || Heh. || Not unlike eyes. || Butterflies. || He does this better than you would. || It almost sounds like a woke prayer, which I suppose it sort of is. || Why woke comics don’t sell. || Target lock acquired. || Today’s word is trajectory. || And finally, festively, via Damian, ‘tis the season of good cheer.
What, it’s Friday again? Already?
Meet the neighbours
Continuing a topic from the previous thread, I think that boy needs the sort of education that is conveyed by a load of birdshot at close range. Hmmm?
On second thought, in the Spirit of the Season, how about a shotgun load of pulverized coal? Much as farmers would shoot trespassers with rock salt?
What, it’s Friday again? Already?
For me Phriday Ephemera has always been Thursday night ephemera.
For me Phriday Ephemera has always been Thursday night ephemera.
Forgot to say it’s still the best night of the week.
For me Phriday Ephemera has always been Thursday night ephemera.
Me, too. But I have always been willing to be sufficiently “multicultural” to call it Friday–even as I continue to insist that David doesn’t know how to spell aluminum. 😉
Why, I even went so far as to stop offering David very stale chocolate cookies, and started calling them biscuits. Wasn’t that a laudably diverse thing to do? [ Glances admiringly in mirror. ]
Why, I even went so far as to stop offering David very stale chocolate cookies, and started calling them biscuits.
You have no idea how confusing it is to be a person of my age living north of the border. A cookie is a cookie but we don’t have your southern biscuits. Chips are chunky and served with fried fish but they also come in a 200 gram (note the metric) bag with flavours (please note the “ou” in flavours) like ketchup, salt and vinegar, and dill pickle. A chesterfield is something you sit on and not something you smoke, though there are few who use the word anymore.
We’ve been losing our British heritage since the end of the Second World War (note: not World War Two). I fear when our Queen (Elizabeth II) dies we shall lose the Monarch as our Head of State. There’s something to be said for a relatively neutral head of state versus the line of assholes who have been both Executive Head of Government and Head of State. A Chief Executive can afford to be and should be an asshole for the sake of his constituency, but the Head of State should always represent the ideal of His/Her nation.
God Save the Queen!
We’ve been losing our British heritage since the end of the Second World War…
Inevitable process due to proximity of Ungrateful Colonials? Or due in large part to failure to consciously hang on to native identity?
I, for one, favor nations cherishing and preserving their cultural heritages. (Well, mostly. There are exceptions.) What was that passage in Niven’s Ringworld where the protagonist is offended at how uniform the entire world has become?
What was that passage in Niven’s Ringworld where the protagonist is offended at how uniform the entire world has become?
Firstly, the world has hardly become uniform (Spoken like an American). Secondly, why refer to science fiction when the real world is all around us. Though you’re not wrong about living in proximity to the “Ungrateful Colonials.” As far as hanging on to native identity, we have watered down our British identity through immigration. Our great sin is that we didn’t have an identity for the new arrivals to embrace.
Embarrassing as it is to say we “hosers” define ourselves as being “not American.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the Great White North.
(Spoken like an American)
Masters of the Universe and all that. 😉
Inevitable process due to proximity of Ungrateful Colonials?
Trudeau. Both of them.
Dad moves deployed.
The somewhat disturbing thing about that video is that Dad is a significantly better dancer than his teen daughters.
While I realize that nobody cares about indie tabletop roleplaying games (because they’re not really all that important or relevant in the grand scheme of things) I’ve been horrified/fascinated at the speed and extent with which ludicrous identity politics has infested the hobby.
From the RPG Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall:
How very gracious of you to permit the gwai lo to play your game. In private.
Oh, my. I’m sure it’s disturbing to see one’s own familiar sense of home and fami…
Oh.
I should note that her co-author goes by the nom de Internet “Banana-chan”.
I am torn between never playing this game as hard as possible, and playing a pirated copy simultaneously on Twitch, YouTube and Discord with my 40-something white friends. Doing our best James Hong impressions.
Embarrassing as it is to say we “hosers” define ourselves as being “not American.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the Great White North.
About twenty years ago I was out boozing with a buddy in NYC when we found ourselves sharing a table with two girls who chose to confess to us that they were from Canada. Taking a firm grasp of all my wealth of charisma, I looked at them and said, “Yeah. We tend to forget that you people are even up there.”
I cannot say that anything has changed.
Firstly, the world has hardly become uniform…
I am perfectly aware that the world has not become uniform. Why would you think otherwise? Sheesh.
However, I have read comments by Westerners from earlier in the 20th Century lamenting that Europe and North America were becoming more alike than they had been. So there has been a process of slow homogenization at work, regardless of how far we may think it will go or how quickly.
…(Spoken like an American).
What in God’s name did you falsely infer about the thinking behind my comment?
Secondly, why refer to science fiction when the real world is all around us.
Because in that story the earth of 850 years in the future had indeed become radically uniform–same shops, same foods, same fashions, same fads, and so on. Even a disappearance of distinct races due to centuries of migration and intermarriage. In contrast, today’s world is not uniform, no matter how much we may notice (and praise or deplore) trends in that direction. The story posits a global endpoint.
“Yeah. We tend to forget that you people are even up there.”
The plight of the much smaller neighbor?
Please for the love of God!
I cannot say that anything has changed.
To the great annoyance of the Laurentian Elite. The ruling class here walk the line between wanting to be noticed by Americans while disdaining them. Unfortunately that attitude has found its way down to the hoi polloi who, with no evidence, think they’re better than our cousins.
I could share some tales of conquest with some lovely American girls as well–on their home ground or mine. 😉
Though, I must say, my greatest shame came around 9-11. I was in San Diego on business on that horrible day. We had a wonderful woman from Wisconsin as part of our business team. I still remember how upset she was when we returned “home” when a large group of Canadians felt it was “deserved.” To my mind, sanctimony is the greatest sin.
Mistral for black serial killer who targeted elderly people because four jurors did not want to send a black man to prison for the rest of his life. The jurors all agreed he was guilty. Some of them refused to convict him simply because he was black.
Liberalism is a disease. Leftism is stage four cancer.
While I realize that nobody cares about indie tabletop roleplaying games (because they’re not really all that important or relevant in the grand scheme of things)
The point of the exercise is that nothing shall remain untouched, and that there shall be no escape for you.
I do hear that Games Workshop is predicted to do splendidly going forward, in light of their recent moves, both apolitical and political, to alienate much of their fan base.
The plight of the much smaller neighbor?
We don’t forget Texas is there.
To my mind, sanctimony is the greatest sin.
And a luxury of living in the shade provided by the Great Satan.
If the Islamic crocodile somehow achieved its dream of eating America, I don’t see Canada being spared from its appetite down the line.
I am perfectly aware that the world has not become uniform. Why would you think otherwise? Sheesh.
If I have misunderstood what you were implying, I apologize. I tried to soften the comment about “Spoken like an American” with my follow on comment.
However, your “defence” immediately refers to homogenization based on comments from “Westerners.” So what am I to think? A McDonalds on one corner, with a Starbucks and KFC on two others anywhere in the world may imply commercial homogenization. It does not, however, mean cultural homogenization.
Perhaps my ignorance of your Niven reference should have tempered my comment. It’s still not clear what side of it you propound. When you quote from modern fiction (which can be interpreted from different positions) it’s not necessarily clear which interpretation you’re putting forward–Poe’s law and all that.
To be honest, I found it all a little condescending. But that’s more a comment on me than you.
To my mind, sanctimony is the greatest sin.
And a luxury of living in the shade provided by the Great Satan.
Too true!
Unfortunately that attitude has found its way down to the hoi polloi who, with no evidence, think they’re better than our cousins.
This article dates back to 2004; my experience has been that the attitude this woman encountered has been endemic in Canada from the 1990s up to today.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200517134106/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2004/11/28/before-you-flee-to-canada-can-we-talk/878044e8-18e6-4648-8efb-d2894be29ef5/
TypePad seems to have difficultly with archive.org URLs (the current URL is behind an annoywall)
TypePad seems to have difficultly with archive.org URLs (the current URL is behind an annoywall)
I used the last part of the link and it arrived at the article with no pay wall. Copy and paste.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2004/11/28/before-you-flee-to-canada-can-we-talk/878044e8-18e6-4648-8efb-d2894be29ef5/
This does capture the zeitgeist, but I think it predates the 90s. In the 60s and 70s I think Canadians looked down their noses at Americans (without reason) while sporting a greater British sensibiltiy than they do today. This came from some misplaced feeling of superiority. Starting in the 80s, maybe the 90s, it seemed to come more from a place of envy and disdain.
Like apple bobbing.
Definitely needs the ‘Mission Impossible’ music. 🙂
Target lock acquired.
BOOM
“Meet the neighbours”
That’s not in Texas, I’m assuming..?
Morning, all.
The somewhat disturbing thing about that video is that Dad is a significantly better dancer than his teen daughters.
Yes, the young ladies really need to up their game.
BOOM
It does, I think, get to the nub of things.
Modern problems,
How does a chicken break into a house?
How does a chicken break into a house?
Maybe the house is in a co-op development and the chicken doesn’t know what punctuation is.
It kinda offers one explanation for the road crossing question though.
A guide to San Francisco’s street faeces.
Ha, ha. No.
Ha, ha. No.
It’s the first time I’ve seen the term “poop heat map.”
But then, I wasn’t previously aware that ‘child’s toe’ is the standard unit of chocolate measurement.
How does a chicken break into a house?
Peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck…
What surprises me is it managed to drop an egg 8ins or so on to a metal door without it breaking (the egg I mean)
What surprises me is it managed to drop an egg 8ins or so on to a metal door without it breaking (the egg I mean)
A while ago, I learned that you can throw an egg onto a lawn from about thirty feet up and it won’t break. Most of the time.
“poop heat map.”
Hot shit
It does not, however, mean cultural homogenization.
The difficulty is that it is happening, it is a slow process, it generally flows only one way, and we are not exactly exporting our best “culture”.
We don’t forget Texas is there.
There are endless memes, some of them quite funny, comparing how the rest of the world sees America (only New York and LA, and maybe a gargantuan Texas) vs. how Texans see the USA and the rest of the world.
If I have misunderstood what you were implying, I apologize.
Thank you. Reaching understanding is paramount.
Your Niven comment
In Larry Niven’s story, set 850 years in the future, the entire Earth has become homogeneous, thanks in part to transfer booth teleportation technology. The 400 year old protagonist finds this intolerable–he wants the stimulation and pleasure of variety and so is glumly wondering if it is time to take another “sabbatical” and go exploring in interstellar space. The author did not go into a great deal of detail, which is just as well as at the time he was still young and that was only his third novel: He wrote what he knew so the earthbound scenes were in California which passing references to other cities around the world.
It’s pretty obvious that cultural mixing is going in many directions, and it seems that immigration from South Asia and Africa is a chief driver in one direction while exports of TV and movies and books and music are chief drivers in the other direction. And then there’s China and Japan…
However, your “defence” immediately refers to homogenization based on comments from “Westerners.” So what am I to think? A McDonalds on one corner, with a Starbucks and KFC on two others anywhere in the world may imply commercial homogenization. It does not, however, mean cultural homogenization.
Think about the spread of rock and roll, heavy metal, death metal, rap, and so on. I have read laments by French writers over the decline of chansons, replaced by American-sounding pop music genres.
I occasionally hear radio stations broadcasting Mexican bands, which are refreshingly different–less drums and you can hear the voices over the instruments–but it remains to be seen if native-born Americans will be influenced.
I have read that many very local languages and dialects are dying out around the world–which is perhaps inevitable with rapid wide communication and broadcasting.
It is certainly true that in spite of rock music in clubs and American ghetto graffiti on bridges, France remains culturally very French. But I think that a Frenchman from 100 years ago would see various ways in which France has become more like America. And an American from 100 years ago would see ways in which America has become more like various other nations.
But then there are also the self-imposed ghettos: Many Muslims immigrating to Europe self-isolate and refuse to assimilate. What will this mean in another 50 or 100 years? And that brings up the matter of undesirable cultural imports, from Sharia Law and religious intolerance to various sorts of criminal gangs. And undesirable cultural exports, such as gangster rap and much of the rest of our whorish entertainment industry.
So what will the world be like in 100 years? I don’t know, but I suspect more uniform. And all those smaller nations seem the ones most likely to lose their distinctiveness, something which I would hate to see happen. The populations of the Scandinavian countries are each much smaller than their continental neighbors–only about the same as metropolitan Chicago’s–and their history/art/culture/etc have value. And haven’t some Scandinavian political or intellectual figures said that Scandinavians do not have have their own culture and thus have nothing to preserve? (!!)
What surprises me is it managed to drop an egg 8ins or so on to a metal door without it breaking
And yet when I drop an egg 6 inches onto the refrigerator shelf it always breaks. Is it possible that “factory farm” chickens lay eggs with significantly thinner shells?
We don’t forget Texas is there.
Mainly because like NY and CA they won’t shut up.
Meanwhile, it is uncertain if two of those were originally called “The Boris”.
Mainly because like NY and CA they won’t shut up.
In my youth comic opera Texans were stock characters in fiction.
If for no other reason (legion though they may be) this is why no one should pay any attention to the FDA.
this is why no one should pay any attention to the FDA.
I’m surprised the tweet did not also say that the ingredients should include large amounts of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.
this is why no one should pay any attention to the FDA.
The FDA’s tweet is actually the least disturbing thing that I see there.
Meanwhile, an apparently paranoid person.
24 reviewed papers, the specificity (ability to detect true negatives) of the LFTs is over 90%, the sensitivity (ability to detect true positives) between 30 and 90% – IOW a coin toss.
no one should pay any attention to the FDA.
Unconscionable tweet considering we are in a Pandemic of The Fatinated.
24 reviewed papers, the specificity (ability to detect true negatives) of the LFTs is over 90%, the sensitivity (ability to detect true positives) between 30 and 90% – IOW a coin toss.
Yeah. Here’s the thing with all these statistics…they’re bullshit. Where/how is the “true” negative or “true” positive determined? The tests can only be verified by other tests. The ostensible value of statistics are based on random events in a discernibly true domain. Pulling different colored marbles out of a bag where the total/true count is known. These medical statistics, it’s just a wild ass guess as to where the right answer is. Similar to political polling and damn near everything else in the real world that so many”scientists” try to apply statistics to. Which is why engineers may rely on statistics to get them into the ballpark of what is required, but then they throw a considerable just-in-worst-case cheat factor on top. And they often even get that wrong. But everyone pretends that these statistics in far more uncertain domains actually mean much of anything. The only stats in this whole stupid mess of a pandemic that mean much of anything at all are excess deaths. And what good does that even do? It’s all tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Where/how is the “true” negative or “true” positive determined? The tests can only be verified by other tests.
That’s a BFO, and, mirabile dictu, the way medicine works for damn near anything short of maybe a commininuted fracture.
…but then they throw a considerable just-in-worst-case cheat factor on top.
Yes, in much the same way we have CI intervals.
The numbers come from an actually good and balanced paper, my main quibble being they refer to PCR as “the gold standard” though it was never designed to be diagnostic, nor is it immune from numerous false positives from the previously known coronavira.
A disease so severe we quibble over confidence intervals on tests to see who actually has it…
“What, it’s Friday again? Already?”
Why yes, yes it is. That’s why I wait until this time to catch up on the Friday Emph…ermph… er, stuff.
“Mainly because like NY and CA they won’t shut up.”
Ok, then. Meet at High Noon. At Buc-ee’s.