Friday Ephemera (677)
The burger commercial we deserve. || I believe this is what’s known as booty. || “The aesthetics of the scrotum is little explored.” || Regarding lyrics. Somewhat related. || The Nostromo aesthetic. The videos about Kubrick are also worth a peek. || Slappy face. || Suboptimal road surface. || Communing with asphalt. || It’s a sport like any other. || Pulitzer Prize. || I did not know they do that. || Do you like what you see? || Snug manoeuvre. || Never, you say. || She wanted “water and a cigarette.” || Choose wisely. || And what instrument do you play? || Today’s word is pursuit. || Pronouns, obviously. || Her pronouns, however, are way more complicated, so I guess she wins. || The perils of imported Monster Munch. || Feathered creature hears things. || And finally, in uplifting news, the wonders that make-up can do.
Should you be tempted, you can follow me on Twitter.
speaking of “smart” people, I’ve had several conversations recently about the conversion to all electric (cars, no coal or oil etc). They asked me what I thought (given that I work in this field) and I said there is no way to store the electricity when the wind stops and at night because the batteries we have can’t handle it. No town or province anywhere in the world has succeeded in running on wind and solar for this reason. If we went with nukes it would be ok to ban ICE cars but…we aren’t. They looked confused but did not seem to grasp that getting rid of coal and oil and gas BEFORE we can store the wind and solar is insane. They kind of shrugged it off. Never mind that wind and solar account for only 4% of global supply currently (6% in US?) and ramping that up by 2030 to 100% is simply not going to happen. It used to be that if you pointed out that something was impossible it had some weight.
“Share ye links and bicker”
Okay, here goes: An Aussie pretending to Know Things.
Next: Any new insults directed at the Belgians?
Yes indeed. Most “smart” people are actually quite stupid.
They’re called “smart” because they have credentials, they wear the “smart class” uniform, speak the “smart class” English, and utter the “smart class” platitudes.
In part, they are mediocre people who have unearned status. But also, in part, they are people who could have been much better but who were indoctrinated all their lives in stupid ideas.
Gnostic cult.
Re Aussie pretending…
Is he pretending to know about shirts or George Will or what the word ‘libertarian’ means or…? Unless there’s some new/other George Will who isn’t the one who prattles on and on and on about baseball or “things that simply are not done” or wtf? Please God, no. You’ve punished me enough already.
BTW, watched The Truman Show for the first time in 25 years or so last night. I think they cut some scenes from that one as well. I specifically remember an awkward second (?) interview with Truman’s wife where she hinted that she was beginning to loathe having to be intimate with Truman. Does anyone remember that? I suspect they cut that out. I’ve reached a point where watching The Truman Show gives me deja vu from watching Groundhog Day.
Nah. They’re “smart” because they have confidence in what they know. Because they have never deeply questioned the sources of their knowledge. They were told it. They believe it. That settles it. Why it’s almost like a religion. Almost.
Inside every extremist is a failed eccentric.
Eccentric: makes peace with being off-center.
Extremist: attacks the center to make himself central.
Why not all of those things? It’s certainly true that projecting a public image of total certainty and infallibility is part of selling oneself as an “expert”. But the things I cited are important factors.
A chief reason I stopped paying any attention to what David Brin said, was that I noticed he was always absolutely certain about everything, even when he had obviously not thought things through. (Or maybe he had thought them through, but had unstated nefarious reasons for espousing certain opinions and policies.) The same applies to many other writers I have heard and read, or even met: Many were astonishingly arrogant, especially when compared to their actual knowledge–including about things which nobody knew much about yet.
Well played sir. Well played.
and ramping that up by 2030 to 100% is simply not going to happen.
That’s clearly the point. There are no plans or efforts underway to increase the size of the power grid. When wind and solar are added to the grid (along with a back-up for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine–and it’s usually gas) some other plant usually is taken off line (usually coal but sometimes nuclear). To meet the 2030 objective they need to start building nuclear plants at the same rate China is currently building coal plants.
No, but how about Russians?
Russian Antarctic research station: Intoxicated Russian stabs colleague for giving away endings of the books he was reading. But “drunken Russian” is redundant.
A British hero.
They’re “smart” because they have confidence in what they know.
“The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
~Ronald Reagan
Maybe there should be an alternate spelling like “smort”.
Yes. Agree. Mostly. But it’s that confidence. That unearned, coming from no deeply contemplated truly critical thinking basis confidence that makes it all possible. It’s the (unearned) confidence that sells the whole package. The firm belief. But it’s even more than a belief because for many they have never seriously considered the alternatives to what they believe. It’s a faith but they dare not let themselves think that word. They are a lot like most conservatives…”conservatives” that way as well. Much like the religion thing. For most, the actual religion thing.
It’s like how I have many times made my friends, my heterosexual friends, very uncomfortable by telling them that I am probably the most heterosexual of all of us. I certainly have not *** the most women, nor do I tell the most ribald jokes (not the most anyway). But I once asked myself (now this was in the “safer” 1990’s) that very, very deep question because I thought surely if I were gay, certain aspects of my life, some of the most important (to me) aspects would be significantly better were I gay. So short of, well way way short of engagement in homosexual behavior I deeply considered this.
Are new insults needed?
Think I’ll stick with the Punk God of the Straight Razor thank you very much.
Gnostic cult.
I kept expecting skateboarders to come flying down the ramp behind her/him/they/them/it/xer/xim and landing haphazardly and dangerously in the audience.
I’ll bet the little shit wasn’t quite so smug and chipper once the fire got going.
One Frankie de la Cretaz, who used to be Britni and checks all the expected physiognomic blocks, “…is a freelance writer whose work sits at the intersection of sports, gender, culture, and queerness” and would like to educate us so we can do better regarding the transphobia of swimming.
I, for one, am astounded.
I am not sure “excelled” means “had an unfair advantage”, but clearly it is unfair that he is not allowed to have an unfair advantage. Bigots.
@FMM
Frankie de la Cretaz, who used to be Britni
Interesting. Looking at numerous photographs of this person, I would have guessed that it is MtF rather than FtM from the phisiognomy and dress style. That would make Britni a very unusual name for a man.
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I would have guessed that it is MtF rather than FtM…
I confess I was uncertain at first because Frankie can be a female name (e.g., “Frankie and Johnnie”) but I made the mistake of hitting her twitter link wherein, among other things, she shows off her MILF tattoo she got because the NY Times is transphoblic.
No I did not make that up.
Has anyone bothered to study the connection between cross-sex hormones and bad taste?
MtFtM transitioners are REAL MEN. Manly men. Men who do manly, manly things. Unlike like you girly pansies.
Has anyone bothered to study the connection between cross-sex hormones and bad taste?
I suspect that is a proverbial chicken vs. egg question, but having made the mistake of both looking at other photos she has posted on the twitters and reading other jerimiads, there is no particular evidence of hormones other than the factory issued being used.
For a change of pace:
Texas Aggie recipe for oxtail soup:
1) Take one ox
2) Cut off tail
3) Discard ox…
Well, quite. As one might expect, the whole piece is riddled with dishonesty. The claim of “bills being introduced across the country banning trans people from sports,” for instance. What is being banned is cheating.
What is also being banned is otherwise legalized assault and battery on actual women and girls. The cheating is the lesser problem.