The Thrill Of Shopping
With the season of good cheer bearing down upon us, like the walls of the Death Star trash compactor, patrons are reminded that any Christmas shopping done via this Amazon UK link, or via the widget in the sidebar, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.
Readers are of course welcome to direct any surges of goodwill to the tip jar buttons located in the sidebar and below the fold. I promise not to protest.
Oh, and open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
But, you know, in a jolly kind of way.
Communism: I had a fellow grad student from mainland china. He grew up in an “education camp” where they sent all the professors. He would do anything to avoid going back (this was before China modernized).
The wokies here in the US seem to have a fondness for communist china. During Covid it was “racism” to blame the communist regime for covid (as if a government was a race). They like the idea of arresting people for thought crimes (especially in England btw). They never imagine it could bite them. Idiots.
“disability”: it is now fashionable among the young to declare they have PTSD from Trump, or ADHD, or something something and demand not just oppression points but special accomodations.
To paraphrase Ben Franklin, when you give up freedom for safety, you are neither safe or free.
Utopia is almost, by definition, dystopian.
No, it was three–a father and his two sons. I just checked and it’s in “The Tale of the Adopted Daughter Part 2”.
CORRECTION: There are two robberies in the book.
In the first (in “Variations on a Theme”) a single young man tries to rob a cafe belonging to Lazarus’ adopted children Joe and Llita, and his head ends up on a spike. (The children were slaves Lazarus purchased to emancipate.)
In the second (in “The Tale of the Adopted Daughter, Continued” three men (father and two sons) try to rob Lazarus’ homestead and get their corpses “fed to the jackals”.
Recall the Larry Niven stories in which it is a capital crime to fly on manual controls over a populated area.
Time for an upgrade? AR-15’s etc?
“In his hand he carried an ancient and trusty weapon, called by the elves a Browning semi-automatic.”–Bored of the Rings
A jolly solution.
The first scene (the one I referred to) is the one where the head was displayed in the window.
His Known Universe books & stories. Should note the context though – the draconian laws were in place to further the end of keeping the organ banks supplied.
Traditional to boot.
Red Barchetta by Rush.
On the future of motoring.
I think Wayne is being a tad too optimistic on the autonomous vehicles eliminating accidents. I’m not sure we have the software kinks worked out, and let alone the ability to keep all the cameras and sensors on which such vehicles depend clean, or have a cell network dense enough that there are no GPS deadzones. Have you seen a car in winter up north? How well do those sensors operate in extreme intense rainfall conditions? Covered in snow/ice/mud? Even if the sensors work perfectly under a thick layer of filth, and in heavy rain or snow, all the robotics and AI in the world are not going to defy physics and keep the tires from sliding on ice. So do all the autonomous highways shut down completely in bad weather? Does everything creep along at 25 mph in heavy rain (to keep from hydroplaning)? Are the snowplows and gritters autonomous too? What happens when your autonomous vehicle can’t get a GPS lock because you’re in a remote deadzone area? Are all vehicles going to be autonomous, or will we still be allowed motorcycles? Bicycles? What about ebikes and escooters?
My best scientific guess is this sort of thing works well in high intensity urban areas in warm, drier climates. Maybe some autobahn type roadways in less urban areas, but still you don’t want weather extremes fouling the road or your sensors. Human drivers aren’t going to go away any time soon, robotics excel in controlled conditions, which rarely occurs in the real world. Perhaps a better solution is to make it harder to get a license, or provide better driver training, utilizing those robotics to create simulations so you can “feel” what it’s like to drive in wet or slippery conditions, to lose control, and how to get out of a skid.
Ye gods I am long-winded today. Usually I agree with Burkett but he touched a nerve with those assumptions. Yes, I love driving my truck on long road trips…how did you know?
Did you see the recent tweet of a Waymo driving into the middle of a police standoff?
Already exists without idiotic robots.
“Is it them, Yogi?” against a confused elderly man with dementia.
“Get the wood chipper, Frank.”
It does have that feel. It’s 2112 with cars. “We have assumed control.”
Pinged. Don’t spend it all in one place like that unfortunate raccoon. Has anyone checked on him lately?
Scott Adams Amnesia: The cognitive glitch where you see corruption in every institution except elections.
Excerpted from here, starting at about 45 minutes.
Sex abuse cover-up at a Chicago school.
The school’s name? Greater Lawndale High School for Social Justice.
Already exists without idiotic robots.
Even better!! My only jolly quibble is that there are FAR too few listed. Need some for adults too. I know I could use it.
He was no longer was a member of the unspanked:
Brooklyn homeless man killed in baseball bat beatdown over defecating in building
Twerking for votes may be the Democrats’ new strategy.
David, the first step is admitting you need to change.
Ironically, many American professors would happily send us to such “reeducation camps”.
Speaking of living in a commie regime, The Forsaken is about depression-era Americans who figured they might get a better deal in Stalin’s USSR.
And they kinda didn’t.
He is unsparing in his reveal of the perfidy of U.S. and British politicians and diplomats.
This novel would make an amazing movie. Based as hell.
Bless you, sir. May you know the surprisingly substantial pleasure of a brand new, slightly larger, non-stick frying pan.
On people being mystified by reality:
The point about litter has been touched on here before, with some notable examples of progressive evasion and the surreal illogic that necessarily ensues. The desperation to ignore the obvious, even at the cost of absurdity. It’s almost funny, in a slightly twisted kind of way.
And if someone can’t face the realities of littering and its distribution – can’t even acknowledge how the litter gets there in the first place, as illustrated in the linked post – then I’m not sure I’d be inclined to take that person seriously about much else. It doesn’t seem wise.
On kinds of immigrants and basic discernment.
From the previous thread and possibly overlooked:
ComputerLabRat quotes this,
And says,
The film in which Umbrage appears was the first one to hold my attention. Something important is captured in her character, something very now.
Suitably vivid examples of the attitude can be found in the archives, but it can be seen in less dramatic forms pretty much everywhere. One of my more tiresome neighbours delights – positively exults – in opportunities to scold people for the most trivial infraction. She will merrily go out of her way to berate and chide, to set up situations in which chiding can occur. Her fingers must wag.
A few days ago, I was standing outside waiting for an Amazon delivery and she hurried over to excitedly relate how she’d “had to tell off” the delivery driver for leaving his van’s engine idling for all of twenty-five seconds. What struck me was her obvious enthusiasm, her need to boast of what she’d done, having gone out of her way to do it. As if I might applaud her for this feat of supposed selflessness.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, she seems to imagine herself as some heroic force, a champion of righteousness. A supporter of All The Causes. Rather than, say, a bitter and rather spiteful old biddy with nothing better to do.
Close. That blessing must have slipped into your time machine. Bought a griddle pan just a couple weeks ago. How I made pancakes in a frying pan all those years…sigh. Too soon old and too late smart.
Seems an awful lot of bother for nothing then and/or failing to grasp the basic concept, so I am afraid I’d have to throw the BS flag on this play.
I found myself oddly excited by the prospect of frying something with my new toy. I decided we needed to have lunch an hour early. I think it was the pleasing action of the butter melting in the pan and the way the eggs slid around, almost frictionless.
And I’ll thank you not to judge me.
[ Starts mammoth task of compiling The Year Reheated. ]
[ Tries to think of dinner options that require use of new frying pan. ]
[ Opts for bacon and cheese omelette. ]
My wife of long-standing recently learned how to cook eggs in a regular ole frying pan. The trick is to let the pan heat up, and when water droplets roll around like skittles, add the fat and cook.
Result: No sticky eggs.
She still talks about how happy she is to learn that, so no judgment here.
When you leave the lid off the jam…
The rustling deafens.
It’s an odd sensation, to visit an A&E department for the first time in a while and to be struck by the sheer number of visible foreigners and people struggling to communicate in even the most basic English, which seems to coincide with long delays and high levels of disorganisation. And simultaneously, to realise that you’re not supposed to notice what it is you’ve just noticed.
Bad decisions: If you watch cop shows (Cops, The First 48, etc) you see people who seem to make nothing but bad decisions. Very bad decisions. Shooting someone over $20 in broad daylight in front of a convenience store with video. Leaving text message trail of their plans. Addicted to meth. It is shocking.
Emergency depts: In the US we have walk in clinics if you have insurance. This solves the problem of having a cold or flu or small cut and can’t get appointment. BUT if you are illegal, you go to the ER where they have to take you (more or less). It has bankrupted some hospitals that are near the border.
Very little impulse control, zero regard for others, and seemingly infinite stupidity.
This came to mind:
For the unhappy progressives, not so much stupidity, I think, as an aversion to reality. Or if you prefer, dishonesty.
Women in Cages.
The thrill of (online) shopping. I can’t even buy my wife a Christmas present without having this crap shoved in my face. Half tempted to ship it back.
What crap? Don’t leave us hanging, man.
Apparently, I’ve just been followed on X by a young woman who has “just made onlyfanz.” I’ve been invited to follow her back.
I don’t think I will.
Not sure when the ACLU began qualifying as hostis humani generis.
Forgot damn file…which of course I had to downsize…and no f’n idea how to do this simple phitosizes reduction thing anymore…so…here’s the text on a package I got from Penzey’s Spices:
I literally, and I mean literally, want to kill someone right now, just not sure who.
BTW, You can call me Muldoon for the rest of the bloody day.
Dude, all the hot, half naked chicks follow me on X. Why should you be any different?
The only sensible way to avoid an unwelcome urban shopping experience, I thoroughly recommend it!
Penzey’s Spices: I received a Christmas gift package from them in December 2023. Tried to return it but could not since I didn’t have a receipt. So I threw it in the trash.
Penzey’s has been rabidly anti-Republican and anti-conservative since forever–so much so that Donald Trump mentioned them. (He was wrong to say their spices are low quality, but that’s certainly true of their opinions.)
How rabid are they? They even have a link at the top of their web page to a page where they explain in detail how evil Republicans are. Utterly fucking deranged leftists. No wonder some of my relatives love them.
If there’s one thing I’m really good at without even trying, it’s my imperviousness to hot, half naked chicks.
It’s practically a super-power. I should have a costume or something.