Friday Ephemera
“You’re going to need a bigger boat.” || A guide to how it works, one and two. || A mindset, revealed. || The thrill of hoovering. || Illegal Lego building techniques. || When school discipline is something to “disperse across ethnicities.” || Smaller than is normal. (h/t, Things) || Stealth mode. || A brief history of linoleum. || A brief history of the digital watch. || I’m not entirely sure what’s happening here. || Too much pleasure. || Parenting of note. || Congresswoman, pronouns. || Put-put-put-put-put. || The speed of Martian sounds. || “Scientific” American. || The world of tomorrow. || “We’ve decided to transition.” || It’s wafer-thin. || Forbidden love. || A sci-fi favourite. || And finally, tastily, a tempting offer.
The Hunger Games™, Mudbug Edition.
This is hilarious, brilliant, and only very slightly disturbing. After all, at least the crayfish have a chance to escape instead of all just going into the pot.
The Mafia protection racket weeps with envy.
There are some things so evil the Mafia won’t touch them.
Am I late to discover this?…not that it surprises me. Google these three separately:
Happy Asian Woman
Happy Black Woman
Happy White Woman
Notice anything? But what tops even that is this explanation.
How lucrative is Mickey in the toy merchandising side of the business?
I can’t remember the last time I saw a Mickey Mouse toy. Maybe a stuffy for toddlers, over ten years ago. Some of that is that Disney doesn’t seem to have any evergreen merchandise lines any more, instead choosing to hype the hell out of out the most recent movie.
I am suffering from Craniorectophobia – fear of people with their head up their arse.
Or whether it is really Craniorectonausea – sick of people with their head up their arse.
Happy White Woman
[ Falls down rabbit hole, curses WTP. ]
How far toward the bottom of the barrel do you need to scrape to claim that enforcing train fares is oppression?
See also this, on a very similar theme.
When school discipline is something to “disperse across ethnicities.”
Thames TV (London) just dropped a 1968 news report from their archives on schooling and the school strike in New York
Long at 25 minutes, but quite eye-opening.
Ask her anything about mental health…”
Linoleum is bloody cool when you’re in your bare feet.
Ask her anything about mental health…”
My question: How do you know what sanity is?
The Chinese should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity for inventing TikTok.
The Chinese should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity for inventing TikTok.
I have heard that Tik-Tok uses very different algorithms for China vs. the West: In China anything deemed socially harmful is either banned or down-rated, while in the West it is promoted.
Ask her anything about mental health…
Giving the game away, methinks.
Falls down rabbit hole, curses WTP.
Heh. Well, given the number of nose rings that I’ve been exposed to here lately…the funny thing there is that I never found such things attractive and always were a bit of a warning sign. But now/lately when I encounter one the “DANGER!” warning is much, much louder than it was just a few months ago. I don’t personally know anyone, anyone that I can think of anyway, that has one. I’m sure somebody’s child or grandchild is going to catch me by surprise one day though. It’s kinda like the Russian tourists we encountered a couple months ago in south FL. No big deal at the time, though kinda mildly annoying. Now thinking back it seems creepy as hell.
the Russian tourists we encountered a couple months ago in south FL. No big deal at the time, though kinda mildly annoying. Now thinking back it seems creepy as hell.
?
the Russian tourists
Band name.
Falls down rabbit hole, curses WTP.
At least Happy White Woman brought up Betty White in about the fourth or fifth row – so it’s got that going for it, which is nice.
Akshuallly…During a crimes-against-tourists wave in the 1990’s there was a band that called itself “Dead German Tourists”. It was not popular with the authorities. And IIRC, they kinda sucked. Mostly offensive novelty type songs along the lines of “You don’t live here, stop clogging our toilets”. That example being on the softer side.
?
A few encounters with pushy, flashy/wealthy people with eastern European accents/language. In mid-January we stayed at a small duplex on a canal that was next door to a similar duplex. Built in the 60’s or 70’s. Not run down but not high end neither. Nice location though and they accepted dogs. As did the place next door. When we first arrived there was considerable amount of loud music coming from the place next door. Techno-European kind of music. I did not realize that there was a gap in the fence between that property and the one we were on and, as they were having a cookout or something, my dog wandered over there. I went over to retrieve him and it was like I wasn’t even there. Nobody even looked at me or the dog. I apologized (for whatever reason) and put Rocky back on his leash before bringing him back. One gentleman who was coming out of the house did smile and laugh a little and acknowledge me. Seemed nice/normal guy. But the rest of them were…mmm…whatever.
Then a few days later we’re sitting on chairs in the square by the ocean when this family of similar origin make some big deal out of having their picture taken. They actively recruit a person sitting near us, it wasn’t so much an ask as a “you will, please”, which was awkward but NBD. But then while our conscript is waiting for them to arrange themselves to take the picture the “dad” guy starts shooing people away from the being in the background. Rather bossy. It was just awkward/funny and somewhat excusable. I’m sure I’ve been unknowingly rude in foreign countries. But I’m an American and it’s a requirement for us or they don’t let us back into the country. Or so I’m told. There were others in restaurants and such. In the last few years I have noticed a significant increase in the number of tourists from not-the-usual home countries visiting Ft. Lauderdale. But this year the eastern Europeans seemed rather prominent. I mentioned it to my sister and she acknowledged that their numbers seemed to be increasing the last few years.
@pst314
I have heard that Tik-Tok uses very different algorithms for China vs. the West
In China the algorithm is not just for Tik-Tok but all social media. Itseems to have a fluctuating library of words that are unacceptable but the main censorious driving force is a vast human network of prodnoses constantly monitoring the web.
There seems to be a 4-tier system in play. At the lower end immediate deletion of the offending word/article. Next up, banning of an account. For politically sensitive matters, there is the “invitation to tea”, a face-to-face bollocking (it happened recently to a friend of mine who works for AmCham in Shanghai). The ultimate step is a “disappearance” – recall the female tennis star a few months ago.
“What a racket”
Of course. Everyone knows movie villains are always English. Even the Korean ones. (Bloody hell, how was that twenty years ago? Did we miss a decade out or something?)
Ask her anything about mental health
As we’ve noted here before, many people go into the mental health field as a form of coping/avoiding dealing with their own mental health problems and there’s no screening happening to steer these people into therapy instead.
Same thing happens in addictions counseling. I don’t think I’ve ever met an “addictions counselor” that wasn’t a former addict or from a family of them.
“UCLA race and equity director tweets: ‘[we all] hope Clarence Thomas dies..’”
It turns out that Mr Perkins, of the “Uncle Thomas” epithets, has been mentioned here before. See penultimate paragraph.
It seems that being an outright liar, and having a reputation for elaborate and malicious dishonesty, after falsely and needlessly damaging the reputations of innocent people, and wasting lots of other people’s time and effort, is no impediment to a career in “equity” and purported righteousness.
Imagine my surprise.
many people go into the mental health field as a form of coping/avoiding dealing with their own mental health problems
Also, how does a career in nursing work if the person employed to care for others is herself prone to randomly collapsing and passing out, perhaps several times a day?
Also, how does a career in nursing work if the person employed to care for others is herself prone to randomly collapsing and passing out, perhaps several times a day?
The entire ward staff is nearing the end of a flawless performance of their carefully choreographed TikTok when the lead twerker passes out (again). Help, won’t somebody call for a doctor!
“What a racket”
Indeed.
We’ve progressed forwards to 1954 and the Comics Code Authority.
That was voluntary too.
… all of the actors playing the heroes in an upcoming scripted project appeared to be light-skinned East Asian people whereas the villains were portrayed by darker-skinned East Asian actors
And here, it seems, we’ve progressed back to 1854. Maybe even 1754?
If this example were true, why isn’t referring to the casting process?
If by “scripted project” they mean one with storyboards, maybe all they saw in the drawings were villains lurking in shadowy lairs and, hence, appearing to be “darker-skinned”?
If by “scripted project” they mean literally just final stage scripts with casting decisions yet to be made, how on Earth could they have possibly parsed from the script how light or dark the skin tone was?
And, more importantly, why are these cretins standing around like the unseen police officer in the Peter Griffin skin tone chart meme?
It’s grotesque.
As we’ve noted here before, many people go into the mental health field as a form of coping/avoiding dealing with their own mental health problems…
People go into the “anti-racism” racket to avoid dealing with their own racism.
Ditto “anti-fascists” and their own fascism.
Ditto socialism and their own covetousness.
Ditto feminism and their own sexism.
Ditto . . .
dealing with their own mental health problems…
Act One: Baby’s First Words
Act Two: Cricket Problems
The Elite™, know how to stick it to Putin, Top.
Men.Womyn.The Elite™, know how to stick it to Putin, Top.
Men.Womyn.It’s fatuousness as artform.
See also Ms Flavia Kleiner, mentioned here.
And we’re supposed to take these creatures seriously. And not, say, beat them with shovels.
The Elite™, know how to stick it to Putin, Top. Men. Womyn.
Time to recycle those WWII conservation propaganda: “When you shower alone you shower with Hitler”.
Daniel Reems: I started out in psychology in college. After reading dozens of books by the “greats” in the field and looking at my crazy classmates, I decided it was not a real science (any theory could be made to sound good) and changed majors.
The truly disturbing thing is that people (moreso women) valorize their supposed mental illnesses, brag about them on Instagram, include them in their introductions. If you really are bipolar or have anxiety, there is meds. If you are neurotic, you can get therapy. Focusing on things outside yourself, on athletics, on school or work, on your family, can help one overcome lots of mental health issues.
Act Two: Cricket Problems
Heh. Ever had a cricket in your home? They are extremely hard to locate. Had one in my apartment once. Couldn’t sleep for a couple of nights until I found the little @*#%&.
Top. Men. Womyn.
So she’s the European Commissioner for Competition, eh? Wonder how she got that job. Was it open to anybody? Do people in Europe not know how to compete without help from their overlords? Maybe that’s the problem with the declining birth rates. There’s no European Commission for Sexual Intercourse. Or maybe there is.
Ever had a cricket in your home? They are extremely hard to locate.
Not if you have a cat, the downside being the wreckage in its path as the beast hunts the thing down.
When you are so woke you screw up the progressive stack. Honk.
Re woke apologies.
https://youtu.be/NBGOryiqZZI
I know this has probably been on here before but what the hell, I love it.
The Elite™, know how to stick it to Putin, Top. Men. Womyn.
Enjoyed the little cuck chuckle (band name) from the guy sharing the platform with her
Not if you have a cat, the downside being the wreckage in its path as the beast hunts the thing down.
The downside being that you have a cat. YMMV of course.
how does a career in nursing work if the person employed to care for others is herself prone to randomly collapsing and passing out, perhaps several times a day?
I really wonder how much actual clinical experience she has because she claims to be in a PhD program and is a nurse practioner … iow she’s spent more time in school than in any setting with actual patients.
And any nurse in a medical setting is not allowed to wear jewelry including all the various bits of hardware she has scattered around her face.
If the state of current psychological therapy wasn’t such a woke sh*tshow I’d call bs on her claims of being in any kind of medical training. Now? Not so sure.
With it being forbidden to criticize anyone except whites, it is then not possible to apply correctives for bad behavior, decisions, or lifestyles. It also applies to governments, no matter how corrupt or evil–for example you cannot criticize the CCP. You cannot criticize corrupt regimes in Africa that steal all the aid that passes by them. We are now supposed to pretend that Iran does not sponsor terrorism because we want to be nice to them–ironically, the Iranians I know consider themselves white, not brown, and with a rich culture that goes back before the English even had a language.
With it being forbidden to criticize anyone…It also applies to governments, no matter how corrupt or evil…
That is a cornerstone in authoritarian regimes and a foundation to tyranny.
With it being forbidden to criticize anyone except whites
And whites have gotten around this with the trans thing – just claim to be trans and the world opens up for you. Being gay isn’t a winning card in victim poker anymore, if you’re white. But trans beats most any hand out there these days.
And if the DIE grifters weren’t getting so fat off inflated salaries and BLM types weren’t so busy buying mansions or burning cities down, the BAME BIPOCs might have something so say about that, as I’m pretty sure they consider themselves top of the victim totem pole, to whom everyone else must bow down in perpetuity.
The Elite™, know how to stick it to Putin
By golly, if we all pull together and have morally bracing cold showers, we’ll give that bounder Putin a black eye! That sort of exhortation hasn’t been in fashion in Europe since 1915 or so. Never in my lifetime have I heard that sort of tone from the European elites and being cheered on by the progressive media.
Russian invasion of Afghanistan followed by US boycott of Moscow Olympics: an attack on the Olympic spirit, an intrusion of politics into sport. Gulf War: sanctions kill millions of Iraqis, imperialist Americans are trying to be the global policeman. 9-11: an Emmett Till moment for Muslims fearing backlash. Reagan’s Evil Empire/ Bush’s Axis of Evil: divisive rabble-rousing rhetoric. Decades long dependence on Saudi Arabian oil, funding that regime’s nasty agenda domestically and abroad: nobody’s denying the complex human rights issues caused by the legacy of colonialism, but it needs to be contextualized in responsible media coverage to avoid fueling the real danger which is Islamophobia.
If my memory is correct, the atmosphere is more war-like and more anti-Russian than during the Cold War. If a 2022 version of Samantha Smith wrote a letter to Putin saying American children don’t want a war, and the Kremlin PR machinery picked it up and ran with it and invited her to visit Russian children, would that girl be celebrated in the Western media as a peace activist, given a role in a TV show, and mourned like a saint upon her accidental death in a plane crash? I don’t think so, I think she’d be seen as a sockpuppet of a Russian disinformation campaign, her visits to Comsomol camps would be seen to draw “disturbing parallels with Hitler Youth”, and an army of media interns and volunteer thought police would comb through the background of her parents (which presumably the FBI did in 1982, when that sort of thing was seen by the media as creepy state intrusion).
@Darleen
is a nurse practioner
I must say I wasn’t listening too closely but I thought she described herself as a “nurse assistant practioner” – one step lower on the ladder to fame.
Via Ace, the root problem here isn’t just the cancel culture, it’s the “perception is reality” bullshit. Same tiresome crap going on for decades now and conservatives…”conservatives” have been made to wet their pants virtually on cue whenever the appropriate situation presents itself. Because at base, conservatives..”conservatives” have no backbone and will throw anyone under the bus.
On a positive note, though decades too late, finally some pushback on diversity training BS. Whatever became of Jane Elliott? It would be a bit of a pity were she dead by now. Just a little bitty of a pity.
A few encounters with pushy, flashy/wealthy people with eastern European accents/language…
By coincidence, I was just listening to Victor Davis Hanson talking about his trips to North Africa and the Middle East. He mentioned how, back in the sixties, Russian government and military personnel in Egypt behaved so arrogantly and aggressively that they thoroughly alienated their hosts.
pst314: in about 1995 I went to N. china. The chinese we met complained that the russians (their main visitors/tourists) looked down on the chinese as dirty and dumb. They were extra nice to us because apparently we did not act like that.
If a 2022 version of Samantha Smith wrote a letter to Putin saying American children don’t want a war, …
Perhaps. But those same press at the time uncritically wrote up whatever line the Western intelligence agencies wrote on Soviet military power.
Some of those military assessments were pathetic. For example, they would count Yugoslavia in Warsaw Pact strengths, when it was exceedingly unlikely that they would have entered. Whereas they left out France, who would have piled in right from the start (France left NATO only about control of nuclear weapons because they were worried about Moscow, not because they weren’t).
Personally I thought it was optimistic to even assume the Poles would have mobilised to fight alongside the USSR. I’ve never met a Pole who would be happy to die to defend a Russian.
Some of those military assessments were pathetic
I had occasion to speak with a (West) German ex-fighter pilot who related debriefings he did with East German counterparts following the reunification of Germany. He said they were getting maybe one hour of flight time per month. Nowhere near sufficient for minimum competency. He said if they ever got in the air they would have been slaughtered. Judging from what I’m reading about the Ukrainian war, the Russians are not in much better shape with only slightly more training. I think I saw 8 hours a month, whereas 40 hours is considered a minimum. Though I’m going by what I read. I believe someone here indicated more familiarity with the subject of fighter pilot experience.
Based on what we’ve seen of Russia in Ukraine, it seems very, very hard to believe that they could mount any sort of sustained land war offensive. Not nice to say but I am very curious how any offensive moves by China might actually play out. I have a very hard time imagining how they could mount a large scale amphibious invasion of Taiwan. Didn’t Vietnam spank them back in the 70’s?
I started out in psychology in college […] I decided it was not a real science
One of my first psychology profs was a neuropsychologist, and he had no truck with the rest of the discipline. One of his favourite factoids was the percentage of people suffering from psychological problems who eventually get better doesn’t differ between those who undergo therapy and those who don’t; there’s little evidence that therapy does much of anything.
Personally I take a fairly Saszian view of psychology: I think most psychological ailments can usually be traced to either physical damage or a neurochemical problem, often exacerbated by environmental stressors. I’ve known too many people who conquered mild-to-moderate depression simply by hitting the gym, getting a ton of sunshine, switching their diet, and improving their socialization.
@WTP
someone here indicated more familiarity with the subject of fighter pilot experience.
That may have been me, though I was a navigator not a pilot. I must add a rider that that was back in the 1960s/70s and I know that more recently in the RAF at least there have been cost restrictions on the amount of flying.
40 hours a month in my experience would have been unusual, though of course, it would depend a lot on aircraft type and precise role/s. In my low-level strike days, sortie length was typically 2h30m and I averaged generally between 20-30 hours a month. In my operational fighter period, again my average was around 25 hours a month, with typical sortie lengths on Sea Vixens (Royal Navy) 1h30m and F4 Phantoms 2-2h30m. As an aside, for the single-seat Lightning interceptor a long sortie would be 30m but the possibility of several sorties a day would keep up the average to around 20hrs.
As I say, my experience is just a wee bit dated and as I understand current matters, there is less flying time available – maybe down to a half but, on the other hand, more actual combat experience.
Re Chinese capabilities, my guess reading between the lines it is similar to the Russian and E German with monthly hours barely (if at all) maintaining currency. As an example, the commander of the Chinese first manned space flight was reputedly a leading fighter pilot/squadron commander but only had less than 1000 flying hours including initial flying training.
Thanks. I thought 40 seemed kinda high but having no current reference…which is why I asked. Though as you say different roles would impact that number. Simulators are much better today as well. Test ideas/tactics on the ground repeatedly before wasting time, fuel, and energy/stress in the air on ideas that don’t play out. I’d be real curious how good Chinese simulators are relative to ours.
@WTP,
Yeah (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War), although I wouldn’t trust Wikipedia since the subject is political. I don’t have better sources after seconds of searching. 🙂
One of my West Point classmates opined on our class email list after one of my comments that China stopped because China got the response that it wanted. I had found that claim risible, since North Vietnam had been fighting continuously for at least 20 years by that time and China’s last major conflict had been almost 30 years earlier. YMMV.