He Just Wouldn’t Stop Banging On
Those of you who keep track of these things will know that today is this blog’s fifteenth birthday. I started doing… this, whatever it is, on the same day that the original iPhone was announced, back when the Blackberry Curve was a desirable thing, and 200 million people had a MySpace account. After close to sixteen million pageviews, it seems I’ve joined the ranks of the Old Guard, at least as measured in internet years. Happily, I have moisturiser.
During those fifteen years, we’ve chewed on many topics, from Laurie Penny’s lifestyle advice for terribly radical leftwing women, and the assorted lamentations of that same demographic, to the London riots of 2011, and the Guardian’s oddly selective agitation about litter inequality. We also marvelled at Melissa Fabello’s somewhat neurotic guide to interracial dating, witnessed the mental contortions of the scrupulously woke, and pondered the claim, by a Marxist academic, that conscientious parents reading to their own children are causing “unfair advantage” and are therefore an affront to “social justice.” Oh, and then there was that time when two dozen leftist artists sailed to the Arctic, at taxpayer expense, bent on saving the world with their fearless, selfless creativity.
All of which is, of course, a tissue-thin pretext to remind patrons that this rickety barge, on whose seating your arses rest, is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant a while longer, and remain ad-free, there are buttons in the sidebar with which to monetise any love. Debit and credit cards are accepted. For those wishing to express their love regularly, there’s a monthly subscription option. And if one-click haste is called for, my PayPal.Me page can be found here. Additionally, any Amazon UK shopping done via this link, or for Amazon US via this link, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.
For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last decade and a half, in over 3,000 posts and 130,000 comments, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start – in particular, the end-of-year summaries, which convey the fullest flavour of what it is we do. A sort of blog concentrate. If you like what you find there… well, there’s lots more of that. If you can, do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads too. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found. And do please join in.
Oh, and for those that don’t know, I now have a Gettr account.
As always, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company. Now share ye links and bicker.
I do adore your blog, so I finally donated. And you are correct–the comments rock. I guess I should do more than lurk, eh?
Happy 15th birthday
chippy adolescents looking for ways to piss off Dad for attention Credit Mr Ream
Some pennies from my Tibetan singing bowl later when I can convince Paypal I don’t speak Chinese
Credit Mr Ream
Admittedly it is a bit long for a band name.
the comments rock. I guess I should do more than lurk, eh?
It is the general idea, and more fun.
I do adore your blog, so I finally donated.
Bless you, madam. When walking on icy pavements, may you remain a vision of grace and effortless poise. And not look like a pissed-up clown on defective roller skates.
Welcome to your fifteenth birthday, and Ping!
and Ping!
Bless you, sir. May downpours and haircut day never coincide.
As we’re all tearfully reminiscing, and throwing cash about, I’ll see if I can dig out some other personal favourites.
Leftist think tank wants to make you “better citizens” by making you much poorer.
When socialists misremember the 1970s sitcom The Good Life.
Happy 15th! And ka-ching.
And ka-ching.
Bless you, madam. When offering to make lunch while feeling somewhat fragile from the previous day’s excesses, may you successfully recalibrate any lofty expectations.
Fat-activist cites her random, screaming meltdowns as proof of her empowerment.
I have tinkled in your tip jar.
I have tinkled in your tip jar.
Bless you, sir. May crumbs never gather under your microwave.
Brooklynite lefties launch socialist-only dating platform. Things do not go well.
Woke poet is traumatised by the “violence” of people not liking his poetry.
Are you being served?
The Washington Free Beacon reported that … “pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and ‘any illicit substance'” are being provided by the Department of Health and Human services to “underserved communities.”
I have tinkled in your tip jar.
Bless you, sir. May crumbs never gather under your microwave.
David, before the blessing, you might want to check the jar.
Just as “pissed” has several meanings on your side of the pond, so does “tinkled” on ours…
May crumbs never gather under your microwave
It’s not the microwave plagued by crumbs, it’s the toaster.
… provided by the Department of Health and Human Services…
Under which OTSG, CDC, and FDA fall.
“Smoking, chloroquine, and ivermectin will kill you dead, have a puff of meth instead, don’t mind the fentanyl!”
Oh yeah, these guys too…Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
I am not sure handing out free crack pipes exactly qualifies as either treatment or rehabilitation, but someone cynical might notice it is one way to stay in business.
Cue theme song
it’s the toaster.
And the moment you move it – say, during its annual clean* – the volume of crumbs suddenly increases by an order of magnitude.
#FeelMyPain
*Estimates vary.
Dammit, your tear-jerking plea has loosened my purse strings. I shall double my existing PayPal contribution ASAP. However, a visit to Trip Advisor may put off prospective customers. Some examples:
“…mine host, a seedy ruffian flanked by two burly women – (I do not say ‘ladies’) – of the Sapphic persuasion…”
“…his customers, a choice bunch of Apaches, glowered at us on general principles…”
“A bowl of nuts, into which someone had vomited, along with a jar of green pickled eggs and a plate of suspiciously lively sausage rolls, seemed to be the only sustenance available.”
The large notice behind the bar: “Please do not ask for credit as a smack in the teeth often offends.”
Not very encouraging!
Dammit, your tear-jerking plea has loosened my purse strings.
I do love it when a cunning plan bears fruit. And bless you, sir. May your cheesy bread rolls be cheesier than expected.
today is this blog’s fifteenth birthday.
Soon it will have its own driver’s license. The world trembles.
Leftist think tank wants to make you “better citizens” by making you much poorer.
I’d love to see a deep investigation into the private lives of the people at the NEF: What are their salaries and net worth? What sorts of homes do they own? Where do they go on holiday? What sorts of luxurious lives do they live as they proclaim the benefits of forcing everyone else into poverty?
Soon it will have its own driver’s license. The world trembles.
Not yet. It is a British blog so 2 years before it become a danger to other road users.
Not yet. It is a British blog so 2 years before it become a danger to other road users.
Ah but there is the Provisional License to inspire dread. Can you imagine David taking it out on the road? The mind boggles. Or possibly croggles. [ Retires to comfy chair. Fans self. ]
15? Hey, here in Texas you’re a driv’n!
Oh, and looky here – a new(ish) ride, and Amazon (US) has goodies…
*clickage ensues with much thanks to our host*
I am now aware that “gender equality or justice” in German is ‘Geschlechtergerechtigkeit’. You may want to memorize this and update your spell checkers before you make a mistake and get taken to a stalag or something.
Not sure how I even stumbled on to this blog many years ago – back when it had a threatening baboon in it (not in the comments – I mean on the masthead illustration).
Good times, Bless you sir – fishes in pocket for small bills.
*clickage ensues with much thanks to our host*
fishes in pocket for small bills.
Bless you, sirs. May your enemies run out of kitchen foil at the worst possible time.
How to impress your boss, an intersectional guide.
Brooklynite lefties launch socialist-only dating platform. Things do not go well.
Okay that one made me laugh. Have a birthday drink on me.
Have a birthday drink on me.
Bless you, sir. May your undershirts dry with pleasing rapidity.
Brooklynite lefties launch socialist-only dating platform. Things do not go well.
The post (from three years ago) mentions Sarah Leonard’s dream of launching a glossy mag called “Rosa” after commie Rosa Luxenburg.
Three years later, that dream is a reality.
“underserved communities.”
With the recent stampede of government agencies throwing money and now, apparently, crack pipes, willy nilly at these “underserved communities” in the name of Equity and Reparations, how long and how much money will it take before these communities are not “underserved” any longer?
I have more questions. Wasn’t it a rumor during the Bush, or maybe Reagan years that the government got teh blacks hooked on crack to keep ’em down, committing crimes, and in jail? That crack was a racist wypipo conspiracy? And now Brandon is giving free crack pipes out? And why is the BLTGEAH++ community “underserved” and in need of free drug paraphernalia? Won’t the black racialists get a little angry that these rich wypipo with interesting sex lives are stepping on their victim grift turf? They aren’t too keen on Hispanics and Asians stepping in on it as it is.
And Happy 15th! Time to get all those things I’ve been meaning to buy at Amazon(US), with many thanks to our host!
Brooklynite lefties launch socialist-only dating platform. Things do not go well.
LOL. *Hits Paypal button*
Time to get all those things I’ve been meaning to buy at Amazon(US),
Shop ye like the wind.
LOL. *Hits Paypal button*
You have to marvel at how, despite all the clues being right there, they can’t quite fathom why no-one is getting any dates that they’d care to repeat.
And bless you both. May your other halves know how to cook a damn fine brisket.
Leftist think tank wants to make you “better citizens” by making you much poorer.
The comment thread is great, as always. I particularly enjoyed the lengthy blatherings by commenters Sandwichman and Dr. Westerhaus. The Robert Anton Wilson pseudo-profound jargon was a bonus: Reality-tunnels? Bio-survival tickets? It’s been a very long time since I’ve read anything by Wilson, but I do recall that the enthusiasts I met were a kooky lot.
You have to marvel at how, despite all the clues being right there, they can’t quite fathom why no-one is getting any dates.
Victor Davis Hanson, in a very recent podcast, described his encounters as a young Classics professor with campus hippies.
I particularly enjoyed the lengthy blatherings by… Sandwichman
We mustn’t forget that ‘Sandwichman’ is actually a pseudonym of Tom Walker, who, at the time, was a lecturer of Labour Studies at Simon Fraser University. Allegedly an expert in “the history of economic thought” and “alternative economics,” Dr Walker was quite annoyed at being repeatedly corrected on points of fact and logic, and seemed to have difficulty with simple reading comprehension. That’s before we get to his bare-faced dishonesty, the hilarious vanity, and what seemed to be a particular dislike of being corrected by women.
He is, of course, a self-described “peace and social justice activist.”
Meanwhile at “Screen Daily”, there appears to be some confusion.
*ping*
I love how you slice and dice the idiocy, David.
Socialists who talk about only working 21 hrs per week and such obviously live in fantasy land. Check E Germany under communism. People worked hard but were still poor. Russia same. There is no communist state and never was one where people could just garden and write poetry most of the time. It is the opposite. With your free time you can stand in line for bread. Bernie Sanders tried to spin this as a positive as did Brandon spoks who said empty shelves reflect strong demand. So many contortions they should be in a circus sideshow.
*ping*
Bless you, sir. May your stylish nose-hair trimmer come with a tiny, built-in torch, so you can really see what’s going on up there.
He is, of course, a self-described “peace and social justice activist.”
I suspect that I would not experience much peace in the ideal future that he envisions.
Hopefully Screen Daily is just confused and Ed Diezzard is playing the part of Mr Hyde?
There is no communist state and never was one where people could just garden and write poetry most of the time.
As I recall (am I correct?) Karl Marx himself wrote eloquently about that glorious socialist future in which a man might farm for a few hours in the morning and then do culturally uplifting things in the afternoon and evening.
pst314: of course Marx was a 100% grifter who lived off of Engels family fortune (Engels owned a factory ironically enough). I knew lots of hippies back in the day (my own status back then is a closely guarded secret) and their thing really was not working much and doing small useless things like patching their bluegenes by hand and making bread. But the ones I knew just took this as their personal choice and did not want to force everyone else to do it. All of them were young and single with few needs.
haha bluegenes–> bluejeans coffee is not working this morning.
What I like about your blog is that you can write things like “PalPay” and nobody corrects it.
today is this blog’s fifteenth birthday.
Monday was the 25th anniversary of James Lileks’ The Bleat
What I like about your blog is that you can write things like “PalPay” and nobody corrects it.
Heh. Bugger. You will never know how much my own typos chafe my ass.
[ Hurriedly corrects blunder. ]
haha bluegenes
Molecular biologists patch their own genes.
Instalanch!
Hide the breakables and fine liquors. Put sawdust on the floor. Order more air fresheners.
Instalanch!
[ Starts handing out ties, combs, breath mints, etc. ]
[ Starts handing out ties, combs, breath mints, etc. ]
[ Hastily replaces naked lady tie with regimental tie. No Insty reader will ask if I was in that regiment. ]
David mentioned Blackberry: about 8 yrs ago I talked to an engineer fired from them. She was in QC. She said they had no interest in fixing bugs or security flaws. I would have shorted them then if I did such things. There are indicators for organizational functioning. Ignoring goofs is one. Spending time on woke stuff and using jazz hands is another. Who do you short when every company is dropping the ball and posturing?
In for 50 pounds from Texas! Thanks for the good reads, turns of phrase, and general purdy talkin’.
In for 50 pounds from Texas!
Bless you, madam. May the smell of fried onions never outstay its welcome.
55 from Florida. Heh…Texans…
55 from Florida. Heh…Texans…
Heh. By all means continue this bidding war. And bless you, sir. May lower-level players be loudly impressed by your ability to disintegrate vast, alien battleships.
By all means continue this bidding war.
They didn’t say pounds of what…
Oh! I do ask a favor, though. Travelling to London in May and would like a recommendation on an Indian restaurant.
Travelling to London in May and would like a recommendation on an Indian restaurant.
I don’t live anywhere near London, so I couldn’t say, I’m afraid.
Right, early start tomorrow, so time for me to be horizontal. Thanks to all who’ve chipped in so far, or subscribed, or done shopping via the Amazon links, including all those much too shy to say hello. It’s much appreciated and is what keeps this place here.
a recommendation on an Indian restaurant
Haven’t lived in London for a long time, but Michelin is generally a reliable guide to price, if not quality 😉
She said they had no interest in fixing bugs or security flaws
In all fairness, that’s every software and hardware company.
The real reason to short BlackBerry was when they tried to expand out of the corporate market and take on Apple for the consumer market. Lazarides thought he was a multi-national grade CEO. He wasn’t.
Another Black separatist utopia collapses. Of course. I think I read about this in mid 2021. Clown car commies.
I went to Palpay to send some money to David, and there discovered David is actually the surviving wife of a now-deceased Nigerian prince who is hoping to strip the black coating off millions of US dollars that he had to disguise to get them smuggled out of Africa, but once out was unable to afford the cleaning chemicals. I have agreed with David at Palpay to buy and take delivery of just a couple of boxes of these US$100 notes so he can afford to clean the rest of his blackened currency and regain his immense wealth and I will be able to share in his wealth too.
In the meantime I have put some money in David’s tip jar until those boxes of money get delivered and I can get the black coating removed from those banknotes.
It’s a good thing that Palpay has also reminded me my virus protection has expired and I need to subscribe to get another renewal for the next ten years. I must have forgotten about the original subscription.
black separatist group in Colo. : sagebrush (check the photo) means you are in the desert. No rain. hahaha. At least the commune I visited in college had a rock band to support them.
I cannot speak for all hardware companies nor all software companies, but I have worked in various companies (Bell Northern Research, Northern Telecom, and Avaya as examples) where bug reports were taken very seriously. The unnamed company as far as you are concerned for which I work now also views bug reports as things to be verified and fixed. There is a QA engineer in our scrum team that works with us and tries to find any bugs before the people who pay us does so.
I consider myself to be a type of engineer (and the Canadians have the entire “iron ring” deal which is a different level) and I don’t want to create something that doesn’t do what it is supposed to do.
(US Telecom equipment was required by law to explain in an official report why any switch wasn’t operational 99.999% of a year. That’s 5 minutes 15 seconds of allowable downtime in a year.)
I’m a boomer that was born in 1959 and my dad was an aerospace engineer (Apollo, Skylab, various defense contracts). Maybe I’m more serious about this than your average Indian software developer.
Ccscientist,
I once worked for Visto corp , who sued Research In Motion (parent Corp of Blackberry) for IP infringement.
Visto won, and actually received roughly 600 million USD in settlement.
Great! Except the influx of cash destroyed Visto, because the investors (who had been waiting for 12 years) took their money out.
For me personally, the whole thing was so messy I was lucky to get out breaking even.
a recommendation on an Indian restaurant
I haven’t been in an Indian restaurant in London since 1978 so perhaps my suggestion may be a trifle out-of-date.
the claim, by a Marxist academic, that conscientious parents reading to their own children are causing “unfair advantage” and are therefore an affront to “social justice.”
Another Marxist doing the devil’s work.
Bell Northern Research, Northern Telecom, and Avaya as examples
You’re talking about large scale – and also old school – telco hardware companies. Yes, their stuff tends to have a lot more rigorous QA. But that’s also a tiny, statistically insignificant fraction of the total number of hardware and software companies out there.
You know what’s even more stringent than telcos? Medical device regulations. And having worked for a couple of medical device companies I can say that if my doctor attempts to heal me with anything more advanced than a rusty stick I’m looking for another doctor.
There is a QA engineer in our scrum team
If you’re using scrum your company isn’t serious about quality.
Another Marxist doing the devil’s work.
Well, when you strip away the begged questions and the thin, contrived rationalisations, and all of the implicit self-congratulation, what you’re left with, reliably, looks an awful lot like malice. A kind of titillation at the prospect of other people’s lives – including children’s lives – being made much worse. But such is “social justice,” and the kinds of personalities to whom it appeals.
See also this, where the eagerness to frustrate and diminish isn’t hard to find.
At least a dozen Guardian readers call Ms Murray “selfish” for paying for her child’s education while also paying via taxes for the state system she doesn’t use, because she doesn’t find it fit for use. (Paying twice, for her own child and for others, apparently makes her mean.) And being pious and tolerant lefties, there’s plenty of this: “I hope you don’t write for the Guardian for much longer.” Several indignant readers are pleased by their belief that Ms Murray’s confession of deviance will cost her her job, thus making her child’s tuition unaffordable. This is piety, you see.
And these attitudes, a mix of self-flattery and gleeful spite, are by no means uncommon among our leftist betters.
today is this blog’s fifteenth birthday
15 more please.
*hits tip jar*
discovered David is actually the surviving wife of a now-deceased Nigerian prince
15 more please.
Bless you, sir, and bless you, madam. When choosing an ensemble, may you discover that colours you wouldn’t usually think of combining actually go together really well.
Natalie above might still be looking for her Indian Restaurant. A walk up Brick Lane should do the trick. Cheek by jowl they sit and one is spoilt for choice as I recall, and on a slow day the ‘ushers’ outside will virtually manhandle/personhandle you into their premises.
The Blurting.
Brick Lane
Which is Spitalfields, E1 postcode.
And if Natalie likes church architecture, might I recommend a visit to Nicholas Hawksmoor’s Christ Church, Spitalfields, a wondrous place.
Haven’t been there for a couple of years (obviously), but I’ve always enjoyed the Bombay Brasserie.
You have the BBC, we have NPR…
Marvel comic books does it again, Hook ’em, Horns!.
Oxford University Debates, chose your fighter:
Vegan;
Not Insane.
and pondered the claim, by a Marxist academic, that conscientious parents reading to their own children are causing “unfair advantage” and are therefore an affront to “social justice.”
Just wanted to say that was excellent. A token of appreciation is on its way.
and pondered the claim, by a Marxist academic, that conscientious parents reading to their own children are causing “unfair advantage” and are therefore an affront to “social justice.”
Many of the things they claim are unfair are open to anyone. We used the library to get an unlimited supply of age-appropriate books for our kids. No $ needed. So the real claim is that blacks are incapable of reading to their kids. Wow, who is the racist here?
Just wanted to say that was excellent.
Thank you. It does, I think, capture a kind of competitive unrealism that’s common in academia’s clown quarter.
Dr Swift, our expert in “social justice” and “egalitarian theory,” tells us that, “Parents reading their children bedtime stories… are unfairly disadvantaging other people’s children.” But by reading bedtime stories, functional parents don’t “unfairly disadvantage” the children of bad parents. Bad parents do that. The parental negligence and selfishness – obvious causes of stunting and poorer life outcomes – are their doing. Dr Swift’s Marxoid formulation isn’t just wrong. It’s fundamentally perverse.
A token of appreciation is on its way.
Bless you, sir. May the seal integrity of your cafetière never be in doubt.
By the way, Dr Swift is the son of Clive Swift, best known for his portrayal of the chronically henpecked Richard Bucket in the sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. His mother is the novelist Dame Margaret Drabble. They met at Cambridge University. I’m therefore guessing that Dr Swift’s experience of the kind of state education that he wishes to inflict on others, forcibly, is somewhat limited.
Dr Swift’s experience of the kind of state education that he wishes to inflict on others, forcibly, is somewhat limited.
Yes, there’s a certain bouquet of insincerity (or perhaps complete cluelessness? malice?) in his statements.
Yes, there’s a certain bouquet of insincerity
It’s not, I think, insignificant that many proponents of authoritarian restrictions on educational choice have little, if any, first-hand experience of what it is they want to inflict on others. (See Zoe Williams, George Monbiot, Polly Toynbee, Kevin McKenna, Arabella Weir, etc.) I suppose this makes it easier to be unrealistic about what the likely result would be. And to be unrealistic about why state education is so often… what it is.
I mean, if, say, you believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that intelligence is just a matter of opportunity – something that state schools can bestow, pour into any head, and thereby distribute fairly – if that’s a driving assumption – then you’re already so far up the wrong tree that unrealism and farce are all but inevitable.
a recommendation on an Indian restaurant
I fondly remember a place called Moti. But that was over 30 years ago. In Tokyo. Hope this helps.
We used the library to get an unlimited supply of age-appropriate books for our kids. No $ needed.
And hence the reason for dumbing down our libraries over the last 30 years or so. See? It will all average out in the end.
You have the BBC, we have NPR…
I use random skin tones in texts back to my wife. For kicks. She calls me racist. For kicks… I think. I’m sure this is already documented somewhere but isn’t light skinned people getting a tan racist and/or cultural appropriation?
A fundamental premise of the Woke is that society/oppression cause crime and failure. How society causes black parents to not read to children is a mystery. But basicly, POC are helpless (no agency) in the face of oppression. Homeless? no agency. single mothers? no agency. Murderers? no agency. heroin? no agency. Remarkably, it is conversely assumed that white people are not helpless, and have agency–they can stop oppressing, change their behavior. All of this is not only contradictory and racist, but leaves many things wildly unexplained:
whites who are criminals, poor, homeless, murderers (do they assume these do not exist?)
asians with a lower crime rate than whites
women (we are told they are oppressed for 70 yrs) with a lower crime rate than anyone
I know, expecting consistency is unreasonable. heh
BRAVOOOOOOOOO…..
EXCELLENT BLOG !!
That progressive retail experience? Get over it, racists.
I fear not a piss take, but putting the moon in moonbat, Declaration of the Rights of the Moon.
Now I don’t have a PhD in Law from Griffith University*, but I am pretty sure to have an “ecology” you need something alive first, and a ball of rocks can’t be “intelligent”, even if some living things are as intelligent as rocks.
*(Slogan: “Know More. Do More.” Cato himself couldn’t have been more eloquent.)
I know it is too easy of a target, but the moon doesn’t have any “vital cycles”, there is nothing we could do to affect the moon’s relationship to the earth (ie the tides), all inert things remain forever peaceful no matter what we do…oh FFS how crazy do these people plan to get? Is it a contest?
Dr Swift is the son of Clive Swift
So, a brother of the Mockney-ish Gardeners’ World regular, Joe Swift.
I fear not a piss take, but putting the moon in moonbat, Declaration of the Rights of the Moon.
There are indeed people who think that minerals have fundamental human rights, and that it is a violation of those rights to perform mining operations. Or at least that’s what they claim to believe. I suspect many of these garbanzos do not sincerely believe that but use it as a pretense for opposing space travel and industrial civilization in general.
That.
a pretense for opposing space travel
Or they’re staking a claim to be the governance and compliance branch of any future space travel. Can’t have astronauxes improvising problematic slogans like “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”