Tokens Of Gratitude And Esteem
With various blog-related expenses looming, annual renewals of this and that, I’m going to do something reckless and appeal to your better nature.
If you’d like to ensure this place exists a while longer and remains ad-free, there are three buttons below the fold with which to monetise any love. Debit and credit cards are accepted. If what happens here is of value, this is a chance to show it.
If one-click haste is called for, there’s a QR code in the sidebar, at which you point your phone camera, and my PayPal.Me page can be found here. There are also SubscribeStar and Ko-Fi accounts, via which love may be monetised, whether as one-off donations or monthly subscriptions. Should you be gripped by an urge to express encouragement via currency, by all means succumb.
Additionally, any Amazon UK shopping done via this link, or via the button in the sidebar, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.
Sordid business, I grant you, but it’s what keeps this place here.
For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for nigh on twenty years, in over 3,600 posts and hundreds of thousands of 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.
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.
As always, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company.
Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
Switched-on and plugged-in as I am, I had no idea that this existed.
I may watch.
What, a pledge-a-thon for this place and not even a damn tote bag in the offer? How am I going to show people at Whole Foods how enlightened I am?
[ Slides inhaler of unknown origin to Stephanie. ]
Tokens tossed!
PING PING PING
Bless you, madam. May you be privy to at least one piece of juicy scandal.
[ Does innocent face. ]
Goodness, mondegreens. It’s been years. Who remembers, “well, since she put me down, there’s an owl pukin’ in my bed…”
Minutes ago, I was trying to remember Honor Blackman’s name. My brain, ever helpful, suggested Gloria Hunniford.
[ Shakes fist at brain. ]
Douglas Murray replies to Malcolm’s grifting. (Audio link here.)
video by black speaker: short version Africans still live in a tribal world where they can function if they have white or asian bosses but not if they are in charge. Pretty good.
Who said white people don’t have culture?
White culture: culture includes being able to wait in line, table manners, saying please/thank you, being quiet in libraries & church, saluting the flag, staying married, not stealing, obeying traffic laws, giving up your seat on the bus, doing your homework, saving for retirement, starting a business, holding doors open for people, parades, voluntary organizations, helping your kids with homework, reading to your kids, coaching sports…..
Culture is NOT just loud music and crazy hair and fist fights. I am so tired of this canard.
It was just an innocent joke. I’d never seen that before and greatly enjoyed it.
As a token of gratitude and esteem, buy Mister Spock a lifetime subscription.
Oh there’s more. With helpful diagrams.
[raises hand]
Er…will this be on the test?
Bookmark. Funny looking dog in the national park this morning.
This is lovely – Harvard at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella singing Radiohead.
I just found out something interesting about one of my ancestors.
My 20th great-grandfather is Sir William de St. Clair, Knight, born in 1283 in Midlothian Scotland.
He was a friend of Robert the Bruce. On his deathbed, Robert the Bruce said he wanted his heart to be carried to the Holy Land, because he had wanted to start a crusade but was unable to what with all the independence stuff.
So William de St. Clair was in the company that was to carry his heart to the Holy Land, but then they went on a side quest to Teba, Andalucia, where Alfonso XI was waging war against the Moors during the Reconquista.
Battle recounted here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Teba#Scottish_knights_errant
William and others ended up being slaughtered by the Moors.
I had no idea I had Scottish ancestry, let alone someone who knew Robert the Bruce and who participated in la Reconquista.
Mind. Blown.
For the average Christian clergyman, yes. Yes, it is.
She also said “that’s where faith comes in, but that’s such a trope…”
Because true religious observance entails avoiding repetition, I guess. Especially not repetition of core principles.
This calls to mind a novella by Miguel de Unamuno called San Manuel Bueno, Martyr, about a priest in an isolated and idyllic Spanish town. He labors incessantly to provide his parishioners with comfort and hope, extending mercy to sinners, etc.
Come to find out he doesn’t actually believe in the resurrection or life after death, but he also believes that embracing religion is the only way for the people in the village to live contentedly, so he continues to preach things he can’t manage to believe, because it’s for the benefit of the people.
This woman is no San Manuel Bueno, is all I’m saying.
Do we have to curtsey now or something? I knew I should’ve ironed this shirt.
The state of modern British church-going has of course been noted recently.
For illustrative purposes.
Something to help you keep up the good work.
Bless you, sir. May your lens wipes not be too moist. Which is a thing that can happen.
#TrueLifeDrama
It is a little odd, given her role, her supposed purpose, her supposed expertise. I mean, I can get agnosticism at home.
I appreciate the difficulties of trying to fathom these things, and I’m not at all sure that a convincing answer can be arrived at short of some numinous experience. I doubt it’s something one can extrapolate or calculate or infer. But her admission of ignorance in this matter – to a hope-seeking congregant – does call to mind scenes from the comedy series Father Ted.
It might be in here somewhere. I wonder if this is anything she might be familiar with? I have highlighted the relevant parts in case she comes across this and has difficulty finding them.
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come
*ping*
Bless you, sir. May you never be obliged to pretend that piss-poor coffee is perfectly acceptable.
I wasn’t planning on visiting the UK any time soon….
Would watch.
That reminds me: Yesterday I saw an X post in which a Kraut expressed incredulity that Americans were allowed to purchase Everclear (pure grain alcohol). Much mockery ensued. I regret that it is illegal for lens wipes to be moistened with pure grain alcohol, rather than the highly toxic denatured alcohol which the law mandates.
Heh.
I think we need to capture that one for posterity.
David at his workstation, preparing a Friday Ephemera:
Is it them, Yogi?, Arab/South Asian/Muslim/Sikh/Hindu Division:
“First one’s free” is an insane betrayal of the citizenry.
Thank you, David. *ping*
Bless you, sir. May your hairdresser be amused by your smalltalk.
I would, I think, have more time for someone who told me they’d had some ineffable experience, some timeless moment, that left them convinced that death is not the end of the story, than I would for a pastor who boasts of not knowing, while still wrapping themselves in the robes of expertise.
With salary, status and benefits.
And in other news:
It all happens on that anonymous Midlands industrial estate.
With salary, status and benefits.
That, I think, is the key.
Further, I’ll go out on a limb and state that the complete feminist takeover of mainline Protestant Christianity has led to a “pastrix” (I’m sorry – that just looks like pastry to me, even if it is proper Latin) who does not believe in one of the basic tenets of Christianity. It’s all dog collar cosplay to her, just like that weird guy in Walmart dressed as a baby doll shopping for ladies thongs is cosplaying.
I feel so bad for the poor old man who came to his pastor, the shepherd of the flock he belongs to, for spiritual guidance as he grapples with his looming demise, and all he got was that narcissistic creature. The Catholic Church has its own myriad problems, but I’m kinda glad they never gave in to letting women be priests.
Friday Ephemera gets me through the last working day before the weekend. Not all heroes wear capes. Ping.
Bless you, sir. May your shaving be effortless and suitably lubricated.
Funny looking dog in my backyard.
A “fix everything easily switch”.
BBC removes episodes of classic comedy over racism fears: ‘No longer works today’
I assume “no longer works” means “offends our commissars”.
This was recorded in Tampa but they are both wearing significant Texas and UT gear/accessories. She is wearing a wedding band. She has this guy’s balls in a jar somewhere. I was told Texans….never mind…
Single to auto.
But wait, there’s more! And more.
When you understand this, you have understood a crucial piece of the modern age.
Watched the first half last night, by the way, and it’s very good. Strong performances, a surreal aesthetic, and some memorably uncanny witches. If you’re up for a Shakespearean horror story, would recommend.
Oh, and if you want a rabbit hole to fall down, here’s one.
If you click through, you’ll find much progressive bewilderment at persistent racial differences in educational attainment and classroom behaviour.
The participants include a confused upper-class academic with many, many credentials and who tells us, “I have neither children nor friends with children,” and a self-admiring lefty whose imperviousness to reality we’ve poked at before.
Needless to say, some of the sketches being removed are about racial agonising and the follies of self-styled liberals. And quite funny:
Our new commissars seem determined to uphold the tradition of being remarkably tin-eared.