Friday Ephemera (670)
As old as time, the awkward threesome. || You want one and you know it. || Broad daylight heist. || Happy ending. || Today her name is Horus. || “Emily is a woman,” says Dr Fielding. || Fatty Fatgirl and other fashion brands. || Because you demanded it, the thrill of women’s basketball. || On concept cars. (h/t, Elephants Gerald) || A compendium of CT scans. || Cocaine cat and other tales. || Shuttlecock calibration. || Today’s word is predation. || She’s not driving, she’s travelling. || Temple of note. || Fresh milk with bits. || Bit much, really. || Nommy nommy nom. || That’s not what I was expecting. || Trampoline 2.0 || And finally, because you deserve it, a project for the weekend.
Should you be tempted, you can follow me on Twitter.
I have no opinion on who hit whom but skiing in inherently dangerous. Many people do not have full control of their skis and wiping out or crashing into someone is common. Most ski slopes you have to sign a waiver…of course it only says you can’t ski the resort, not other skiiers.
And this attempt by Dr Fielding to signal her own intellectual heft goes hand in hand with dismissing her critics, wholesale, as “middle-aged” and therefore “backward” and “closed-minded” – and thus, conveniently, unworthy of a meaningful response. And all while indulging in a ham-fisted attempt to coax sympathy from her followers. Because having people challenge your public assertions is, it seems, so terribly distressing.
Again, our betters. These beings of high character.
More importantly where’s the black pudding?
I’m rather taken with the idea of a black pudding pizza.
Hand me your coat a second.
[ Rummages under bar for matches. ]
In marketing.
There are just enough rubes out there who’ll think she’s an MD to make it worthwhile on insisting she be called doctor. Whoopee Goldberg stated on The View that Biden’s wife Dr. Jill should be made Surgeon General of the US because “she’s an excellent doctor,” not realizing she was a Doctor of Education. Although, given who was named Assistant Secretary of Health, could it really do any more harm.
Without a doubt, ski accidents happen. I’ve had accidental close calls myself even among friends. Having skied Deer Valley, it’s not horribly difficult, rarely overcrowded (in fact I think they have tighter limits on their number of passes than most places), with very wide runs, and a moderately experienced skier would be hard pressed to run into someone there of all places. Though weather conditions can always be a factor. The worst I could say about the place is that one might consider it a bit nerve wracking because you know the place is chock full of lawyers…and celebrities.
Lots of people ski like absolute jerks. More than once I’ve wanted to beat the s**t out of some a-hole who skied way too close to my wife on a wide open slope. Usually these are much better skiers just showing off. I would not fault someone less skilled for a simple mistake. Skiing in Europe the Italians and the French seem more a-holish than most. Most people complain about snowboarders, of which Deer Valley still won’t allow, but they never really bothered me/us much. Young people (mostly boarders that is) are iffy in general and that just goes with the territory of youth. Either way, while I despise lawyers and the tort system in general, the entitled attitude of celebrities is its own problem. Either way, the NY Post headline was playing up their typical sensationalization of a rather mundane argument by the plaintiff’s attorney.
Skiing in Europe the Italians and the French seem more a-holish than most.
My brother lived in Germany for a couple of years in the early 80s and regularly skied in France and Switzerland. He said they ski right over your skis around the lift lines. He was told by some of his workmates that the thing to do was attach upside down bottle caps on the front and back of your skis.
…dismissing her critics, wholesale, as “middle-aged” and therefore “backward” and “closed-minded”…
As she blithely ignores that she isn’t exactly freshly hatched and not exactly open to ideas other than those of her own hive.
Science fiction writer John Ringo, on the origin of the homeless crazy people crisis.
Lots of people ski like absolute jerks.
I haven’t skied since the 90s, but we always went to Mammoth Mountain. It’s changed a lot since Dave McCoy stopped running things, but I remember how strict the staff was about safety — if you defied rules about skiing “in control” or engaged in behavior that put other skiers in jeopardy, they’d toss your tuchus off the mountain and bar you for the rest of the season.
Amazing how swift, firm discipline gets the attention of people who look to lose a wad of cash for a moment of a**holery.
True of every sport. Some sports attract more jerks than do others.
Well the subject matter of this post attests to other aspects of life attracting more jerks as well. Sport does persist at some objective level. Even the subjective sports like gymnastics or diving have somewhat objective standards. Which ironically, rather conversely amplifies the ego problem. I’ve been around many types of athletes and their kin. That line between best in your region, then best in your state, then best in your country, and ultimately best in the world is a very interesting place. Watching egos get crushed or forced to accept reality is an amazing thing to see. Sometimes it’s satisfying, sometimes it’s depressingly sad, but it’s always humbling to see. Some who hit the wall adjust to a slightly different skill set, others bang their heads into the wall determined to be The Big Man (or Woman) following that dream at all costs, others build an imaginary world of denial. The thing with sports is that there at least is some degree of objectivity involved. But arts? Politics? Those egos never have to face reality except possibly at the end of a rope or against a wall. If the rest of us are lucky.
Principal fired after Florida students shown Michelangelo statue BBC headline
Because one parent called it pornographic. One wonders how he/she became a parent.
Yes, I have experienced skiing with Austrians and their neighbors. Not amusing. But I discovered that responding to their rudeness ( like skiing over my kids in the lift line) by sweetly inviting them to move ahead of us, usually provoked a cleansing embarrassment.
Scuba diving with a bunch of eastern Europeans (in micronesia) was less fun. They were about half of the passengers on that boat, and diving with them was actively dangerous. Same kind of aggressive inconsiderate behavior, and at depth in high current. We got the divemaster to partition the groups, and nobody got hurt.
Blow the wind southerly, southerly
It was actually many years before I could eat black pudding. When a mere pre-teen I had a great aunt whose husband was the local pig-sticker and, since she had a plentiful supply of fresh blood, made the stuff. Imagine the effect on a pre-teen whenever we went to visit – the cramped living room of a 2-up/2-down terrace house with a pan of blood boiling on the coal-fired range with gobs of fat being added.
Little did I realise what a delicacy was being made.
[my coat is already aflame]
Citation needed. Has she given anyone a serious answer yet?
Well, that’s the thing. You can now invoke tearful and theatrical victimhood, and be fawned over as something close to a martyr, without actually providing any evidence of ill-treatment. Beyond the fact that some people have dared to disagree with you, perhaps while taking the piss. It’s the modern way.
Ah, but, in her defence, Dr Fielding has been quite busy telling her followers how amazingly awesome she is as a human being. You see, the people who challenged her statements “can’t cope with my acceptance of people as they are, my love for diversity… They are so angry that I’m a tolerant and open-minded person.”
It’s almost funny.
And there’s the rub. That imaginary world of denial has seamlessly transformed into the reality of acceptance where average ability blokes are allowed to run, swim, cycle, lift weights etc against biologically over-matched females plus at college level they get to flash their junk at the cuties in the changing room.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
The following came to mind, regarding this rather twisted and unhappy educator:
Again, seems rather telling and smells like camouflage.
Not drained enough.
In my youth I knew some people who spent a lot of time talking about how wonderful they were. A tiresome bunch whose small merits did not make up for their conceitedness. And, not coincidentally, they were nearly all people with no remarkable achievements.
Dr Fielding is now telling her Twitter followers that she’s feeling “drained
Pretty much sums it up.
T-Rex decides to do something about those tiny arms.
Of Biblical proportions, The Sierra Club has released its Equity Language Guide. I recommend that this be open at a reserved space on the bar counter at all times; so all who may visit can imbue themselves in holy writ. Its tenets could even bring our host to heel.
Border collie ejected during crash found two days later, herding sheep.
Owl storage.
I thought it was Rincewind.
Had to use shears like that to trim lawn when very young. Not exactly ergonomic.
Scenes.
Ostentatious virtue signaling like Dr. Fielding is pathetic. I have mentioned our friend who always visits you if you are sick and brings food. She never mentions it, nor does her husband. That is virtue. Screeching about how tolerant you are is faux virtue.
Owls: I have great horned owls roosting in my yard. They are pooping all over my BBQ grill black cover. Looks like art. I have so many owl pellets that I called the local Jr. High and asked if they wanted them for biology class–they said yes. I put a dozen in a bag and went over. The secretary said “come in we’ve been expecting you”–went into (I think) vice principal’s office. She was so excited. Opened the bag and poked at them. Two other female teachers came in and were so grossed out–and I quote–“EWWWWW”. Totally worth it.
The Sierra Club has released its Equity Language Guide.
Can’t say they got that wrong.
This is the sort of thing I was referring to a week or so ago. With DeSantis as a potential and strong GOP POTUS candidate you are going to see a tsunami of these types of wedge issues coming out of Florida. I’d bet the any amount of money that the person driving this is a leftist pretending to be concerned…”concerned” about pornography in the schools. DeSantis is trying to get the groomer and similar pornography out of our schools so the left and their lawyer scum (insert Kamala talk about Venn diagrams here) are going to pick, pick, pick away at edge issues like this, tire everyone out and once again, standards must be abandoned in order to be “fair”. Surely I’m not alone in seeing this.
I’d bet the any amount of money that the person driving this is a leftist pretending to be concerned…”concerned” about pornography in the schools.
I’ve been wondering if this is akin to certain doctors/hospitals refusing to do routine care for a woman suffering from a miscarriage “because it’s like abortion”. Umm, no, it isn’t but if you want to have the media play up the evil people who want to put any fence at all around abortion, this is the way you do it.
For anyone with the slightest doubt that real-honest-to-God Marxists exist in California’s state legislature.
From Darleen’s link:
Imagine this…Get a f****g job. Yes, I know it’s an easy retort but JFCIACB who do these idiots think are going to do all that other work involved? Not just the work to supply funds for the UBI but to run the bank, provide security for the bank, provide security for the entire system/locale for that matter, provide the legal system to prosecute those who violate the security laws, teach the child, design the school building, build the school building, maintain the school building, administrate the school itself, administrate the school system, design the transportation system, build the transportation system, run the transportation system, design the housing “flat”, build the housing “flat”, maintain the housing “flat”, etc. etc. etc. including all related concerns regarding the tools and systems needed to support all of those other systems. As the first tweet on that thread says, how about a pony.
Adults actually think like this. Grown adults. Because no one directly in the meat space around these creatures demands that they answer these bloody obvious questions.
…who do these idiots think are going to do all that other work involved?
Fully Automated Luxury Communism, duh.
Adults actually think like this. Grown adults.
Humans over the age of 21, regarding “adults”, facts not in evidence.
Or, Supposedly grown man sounds remarkably like a child.
Except the cheque will be for $97,000 (tax free) every year until 2273 and you don’t have to do squat to earn it. You won’t need to take the green transit bus as you’ve already spent a significant portion of your $5m on the swankiest of rides. As for living in a social housing flat that’s not for you. The flats will be for the dispossessed wypipo (not including Mr Lee of course) whose plush houses you have legally appropriated for the princely sum of $1.
“FALC is a strong brew of technological determinism, sunny utopianism, and souped-up socialism: Let the robots do all the work, and let humans enjoy the fruits of their labor in equal measure. A mainstay of science fiction…”
Yes, there are lots of skiffy writers and readers who love that stuff.
Definitely not adults.
Skiffy = science fiction by and for children.
Yes. Well aware of that. Perhaps we could genetically engineer a few ponies…
Seriously though, this sort of thing is just one of the things I found annoying about science fiction.
Bad idea. The Portland commies would use them for sex.
“I keep trying to tell you: criminals are not like you. He didn’t make a mistake. He didn’t get caught up in a bad situation and do something out of character. He isn’t a good kid at risk of being judged for an uncharacteristic moment. He isn’t losing sleep or plagued with regret.”
In my experience, liberals are addicted to the “he’s a good kid who made a mistake” delusion, just as drug addicts are addicted to opioids. Leftists, on the other hand, are addicted to “society/white people/Christians/etc is to blame and society must be destroyed.”
Here are crimes that CHAZ medics or security have been either accused or convicted of: rape, sex trafficking, forced starvation, kidnapping, false imprisonment, grand theft auto, robbery in the second degree…
Guaranteed that the same is true of Antifa “journalists” and “legal observers”.
“The international governing body for track and field will ban trans women athletes from elite women’s competitions, citing a priority for fairness over inclusion despite limited scientific evidence of physical advantage.”
“Limited scientific evidence”! This is not news. This is Pravda.
From the Fully Automated Luxury Communism article:
the option of a fulfilling but nonremunerative career
What the heck is that? A hobby? Art?
And who will be responsible for building and maintaining the hard- and soft-ware of the robots who will be doing everything for us? This robot-run world isn’t going to be willed in to being.
This could not possibly be a prank.
In other news, this evening I started watching Everything Everywhere All At Once. I really can’t see what the fuss was about.
Here’s the other thing no one talks about. Relative to even 50 years ago, let alone 100-150, the world we currently live in is beyond most people’s wildest dreams from back then. Yet there was never this much bitching and complaining about it as now. More people have more stuff, more food, more power, more every g-d thing relative to back then and now they’re fixing to destroy it all because they don’t have even more. And they have the time and resources, especially in the last few years, to bitch and complain about this because for the most part they have nothing else to do. Their material needs and such are taken care of. Between the dole and make-work and fake “jobs”, etc. they don’t actually have to produce anything. Except bitching. What do you suppose will come of a world, should it actually transpire, where all things are provided? As I suggest we are pretty much already there and people want to reject it all, live in one place and eat bugs. Dostoevsky touched on this 150 years ago in his Notes From Underground:
My FALC sci-fi friends have no answer to that question: They admit that lifelong welfare dependency breeds horrific social pathologies, but are silent when this is pointed out with regard to FALC.