Our Betters Assemble
Or, When Your Colossal Sense Of Entitlement Doesn’t Quite Pay Off.
1. A gathering of radical minds.
It’s a “people’s assembly,” you see; but with very few people. Apparently, it’s hard to do radical ecomentalism, denouncing modern life and the use of fossil fuels, when it’s cold and you have no heating.
2. A slight delay.
One of the gathered titans suggests the formation of “a learning circle on decolonising Extinction Rebellion and our minds.” To pull in the punters, no doubt.
3. Alas, the situation has not improved.
Perhaps the protestors’ appeal has become, as they say, more selective. Also, spare a thought for the local residents, the ones having their minds decolonised, whether they like it or not, thanks to the combination of amplifiers and dogmatic morony.
Via Holborn.
Natalie Solent on related matters.
Our Betters Assemble
I don’t think the Avengers have much to worry about.
Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?:
“decolonising our minds … which I can’t wait for”
From the third tweet:
“Ben I think the delay may have been caused by ‘multiple arrests’ at Schlumberger.”
Follows (in the tweet), several LOL-faces, and (out here), one shocked-face; mine.
Apparently, it’s hard to do radical ecomentalism, denouncing modern life and the use of fossil fuels, when it’s cold and you have no heating.
Perfect.
One of the gathered titans suggests the formation of “a learning circle on decolonising Extinction Rebellion and our minds.” To pull in the punters, no doubt.
Clown school.
One of the gathered titans suggests the formation of “a learning circle
Circles, they’ll never learn.
Clown school.
I should imagine there are people who might be at least partially sympathetic to environmentalism, but who then see these losers, misfits, and preening, incompetent clowns – and recoil accordingly. Especially given the pointed and habitual disregard for residents, commuters and pretty much anyone nearby. The demographic these things attract, and how that demographic behaves, tells us rather more than their pamphlets and slogans.
To say nothing of those who would happily watch these farcical, half-arsed shanty towns, and their farcical occupants, being bulldozed into landfill.
I should imagine there are people who might be at least partially sympathetic to environmentalism . . .
What they are probably actually sympathetic to is conservationism, a different movement of the 19th century dominated by dead old white men named Rockefeller (although Thoreau and Muir are often cited as founders, also dead white men who charted the uncharted and were thus colonizers).
The word “environmentalism” didn’t appear until the 1970s and was coined to set its adherents apart from the ideas of the dead, old, rich conservationists who viewed humanity as the dominant stewards of natural resources.
What they are probably actually sympathetic to is conservationism,
Well, you have to wonder what our hypothetical Mrs Wilson down the road, the little old lady who recycles dutifully and who watches her energy use, albeit for reasons of budget, would make of this ludicrous doomsday cult and the preening misfits it attracts.
Say, people who think that getting small children to play with Lego in the middle of the road – because that’s a good precedent – is both a wheeze and top-notch parenting. “Arts and crafts,” baby. Or girls named Tilly and Jemima who like gluing themselves to doors, trains and emergency vehicles, and generally obstructing and frustrating random people, screwing them over, while applauding themselves for their self-imagined radicalism. And who think of being arrested as a recreational activity, a buzz, a badge of in-group status, something to boast about.
The kind of entitled mediocrities whose lives are almost always more comfortable than Mrs Wilson’s, much more comfortable, and who believe that toppling European civilisation, which they claim is uniquely “toxic” and corrupting, would be a jolly lark.
An ugly American asks:
(1) What is a punter? I really try to learn these things from context but for years the exact meaning remains elusive.
(2) Why do you redcoats say “Lego” for plural building blocks but not, say, “Spaghetti O” for several cans of terrible food?
who believe that toppling European civilisation, which they claim is uniquely “toxic” and corrupting, would be a jolly lark
Does said toppling include the EU? Oops, sorry, was assuming logic not in evidence again. Nevermind.
What is a punter?
A customer; a gambler; a member of the audience.
The weather in Cambridge is currently 6 C, raining, with a 18 km / hour wind. In short, kind of miserable.
Next time, protest in August.
“I should imagine there are people who might be at least partially sympathetic to environmentalism, but who then see these losers, misfits, and preening, incompetent clowns – and recoil accordingly.”
I’ve been saying it since XR first popped up, and they’re still not doing anything to convince me they aren’t a false-flag operation funded by OPEC.
“Why do you redcoats say ‘Lego’ for plural building blocks but not, say, ‘Spaghetti O’ for several cans of terrible food?”
You mean Spaghetti Hoops? (Oh, bloody hell, they’ve rebranded them and dropped the “Spaghetti” bit. Is nothing sacred?)
You mean Spaghetti Hoops?
As a child, I enjoyed tinned spaghetti on toast, but didn’t like hoops. I cannot explain this.
I enjoyed tinned spaghetti on toast
Me too! It was Libby’s Alphaghetti, the Alphabet Spaghetti. It spells delicious fun upon your plate dontcha know. Heinz owns the Alphaghetti brand now. I looked for the commercial but couldn’t find it. I still remember the lyrics.
You mean Spaghetti Hoops?
And so, for reasons that escape me, I find myself browsing the Heinz Spaghetti Hoops recipes section.
Because they have a recipes section now.
Because they have a recipes section now.
That actually looks pretty good — a clean out the cupboards kind of meal or perhaps one to save for the bomb shelter.
Said 60’s swanky bomb shelter:
![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/38/48/cf/3848cf0aa4d8133e7232c8234e322ab7.jpg)
Said 60’s swanky bomb shelter
Hold that thought ‘til Friday.
Said 60’s swanky bomb shelter:
Family arguments during the apocalypse…You don’t put the Rock & Roll records in with the R&B!!!…Charlie Parker is JAZZ!!!.
Also, Spaghetti Hoops. Band name. Bubble gum band. Girl group. But band name none the less.
What is a punter?
It is slang with a complicated etymology from multiple threads. As such it has no precise definition, but you know one when you see one.
The customer of a streetwalker (not a call girl).
Similarly the low stakes mark of a grifter.
Similarly, a low stakes gambler of the lower classes.
Punt is Irish slang for the monetary unit “pound.” Actual punters, people who operated small boats commercially, water cabs, used to control the illicit gambling trade of the waterfront districts for the sort of people who would hang out around the waterfront districts. A punt for a punt and a punt for a roll of the dice.
So more generically the sort of person who looks like the sort of person who would be out looking for a streetwalker or something going on in the back of an alleyway, although these days they’re as likely to be on the dole as to be a manual laborer.
Why do you redcoats say “Lego” for plural building blocks
Because Lego is a singular proper noun. The bricks part is what is plural. Lego is proper. Lego bricks is proper. Legos is not.
but not, say, “Spaghetti O” for several cans of terrible food?
I’ve never heard anyone say Spaghetti O, because “SpaghettiOs” is the proper, singular noun.
All of those tents in the background and the fancy insulated jackets they’re wearing are manufactured from petroleum byproducts. Divest yourselves, O Ye Saviors of Gaia! You must strive for purity in pursuit of your righteous cause!
Much appreciated David and kfg. Far more satisfying than a Gulag search.
I’ve never heard anyone say Spaghetti O, because “SpaghettiOs” is the proper, singular noun.
Bless you, sir, and never change.
Or girls named Tilly and Jemima
Hmm. Any chance Jemima is/could be an Aunt?
I’ll take the pancakes, TYVM.
” The weather in Cambridge is currently 6 C, raining, with a 18 km / hour wind. In short, kind of miserable.
Next time, protest in August.
The weather there sounds great!
Here in Oz, whenever a predictable summer event – heatwave, bushfire – comes up all of a sudden everyone is catastrophising and global warming articles pop up like a heat rash in all the national and state papers. Strike while the iron is hot, and all that.
I’ve never heard anyone say Spaghetti O, because “SpaghettiOs” is the proper, singular noun.
The proper singular noun for a can, or multiple cans.
SpaghettiOs is the plural, if you only had one O left in a bowl, one individual piece of the circular pasta would not be called a spaghetti Os, but a spaghetti O. A can of individual pieces is thus SpaghettiOs.
That, of course is the nominative case, singular and plural.
Genitive: spaghettiO, spaghettiOrum
Dative: spaghettiO, spaghettiOis
Accusative: spaghettiOam, spaghettiOas
Ablative: spaghettiOa, spaghettiOum
Meanwile, getting back to the gal claiming tonsorial distress, we find the Beeb “fighting hate from all over the world”.
I missed where she was in Scotland, not at all sure if this is a related issue.
Bubble gum band. Girl group.
Red-haired Italian girls from NJ.
Lego bricks is proper. Legos is not.
Lies.
Here in Oz, whenever a predictable summer event – heatwave, bushfire – comes up all of a sudden everyone is catastrophising and global warming articles pop up like a heat rash in all the national and state papers.
See also: California. Replace famously dangerous wildlife with the denizens of a Democrat archipelago and their toxic politics as the things tirelessly trying to kill you.
The proper singular noun for a can . . .
The can does not have a proper noun. It’s just a can.
Everything inside the can is SpaghettiOs. Don’t complain to me about it. Tell it to Campbell Soup Company.
one individual piece of the circular pasta would . . .
. . . be called “anelli.” There is, oddly enough, no Spaghetti in SpaghettiOs.
Although of Italian derivation it’s an American product with a silly misnamed American trade name (they don’t know what the hell anelli is in Peoria and Anellirific would be even sillier anyway) and so the plural ought to be SpaghettiOses, but ain’t. Sometimes life is just that way.
LEGO the company prefers that you use “LEGO brand building blocks,” but just LEGO would probably suffice.
Primus: Lego bricks is proper. Legos is not.
Secundus: Lies.
When I were a wee lad I didn’t play with Lego bricks (the proper name of the product), for the simple reason that there weren’t any (at least in their final, 1958 form).
There was, however, Lego, which is the name of the company, not its products.
When me mum were a wee lassie there wasn’t even Lego (which dates from 1934), only Ole Kirk’s wooden toy shop, but she rather enjoyed her invitational visit to Legoland Billund.
She didn’t take me.
She didn’t even bring me back a T-shirt.
one individual piece of the circular pasta would . . .”
. . . be called “anelli.”
If you want to get pendantic, which it appears you do, one individual piece would be an “anello” (actually “un anello” – just saving you the trouble), as in a single Campbell branded anello being called a SpaghettiO™, whereas a can of them would be a can of SpaghettiOs™. Similarly with the Heinz branded UK version, a single piece would be “a hoop”, not a “hoops”.
they don’t know what the hell anelli is in Peoria…
Whoa, Mayor Bloomberg in the house.
If you want to get pendantic . . .
No, I want to get silly.
Whoa, Mayor Bloomberg in the house.
OK, as a native Manhattanite that’s going to leave a mark. I was only born there though and that isn’t my fault.
I actually live down the road a piece or three from Podunk but when people make jokes about it I don’t get sore because, well, they’re usually pretty bang on.
I was thinking of retiring to Peoria, but before I could actually do it it actually became a “thing.” Go figure.
Maybe Bozeman?
Maybe Bozeman?”
Ah. A potential Dental Floss tycoon?
Ah. A potential Dental Floss tycoon?
Just him and the pygmy pony…oh, and his zircon encrusted tweezers.
” . . .his zircon encrusted tweezers.”
OK, that made me giggle.
Of course, one can’t use a full sized horse…
Only a New Yorker would think such farming is easy…
Six pairs of zircon encrusted Don Alphonso tweezers
Usually preceded by five hundred Limerick oysters and followed by seven hundred Macedonian warriors in full battle array.
Or so an old Marine once taught me.
Oh, David?
The thread seems to have jumped the tracks. Again.
Have you been skimping on the maintenance?
And don’t no one blame me. Why, the upstairs hot tub is Sparkling! And even the henchlesbian uniforms have brighter colors!
a Democrat archipelago and their toxic politics as the things tirelessly trying to kill you
Well, I’m hoping they’ve finally taken the step too far. The banning of freelance/independent contractors that took effect Jan 1 has produced a growing backlash across a state where millions of people have suddenly lost their incomes and careers … and lots of them – writers, musicians and small entertainment companies – have big voices.
(fingers crossed)
Re: Above
https://pjmedia.com/trending/that-freelance-job-killing-law-is-so-bad-that-the-california-legislature-may-dump-it-next-week/
The thread seems to have jumped the tracks. Again.
[ Returns from shopping expedition. Dumps carrier bags on kitchen counter. Surveys narrative wreckage. ]
[Returns from shopping expedition. Dumps carrier bags on kitchen counter. Surveys narrative wreckage.]
Did you remember to pick up another case of pickled “eggs” and camel hump fat? Asking for the Gimp in the basement.
Asking for the Gimp in the basement.
[ Bangs on floor with broom handle. ]
Quiet, you.
OK, that made me giggle.
Tweezers. Wait a minute. Let me sterilize them for you…give me your lighter.
[ Blows the dust off Overnight Sensation and puts it on the turntable ]
[ Bangs on floor with broom handle. ]
The henchlesbians hate it when you do that. It makes the Gimp mad and he starts flinging poo with his one good hand. Well it’s more of a claw, really. So fortunately he’s not very accurate with his aim. But it does make quite a mess. And when you consider all that he eats are pickled “eggs” and camel hump fat, well…Of course you never go down there so how would you know?
Not news for those of us who have paid attention.
and
One person commented that people working in the sector are “nowhere near as open as they pretend to be, there is a lot of hiding and backstabbing”.
Oh, what a tangled web, eh? This is the thing with repression of virtually any kind. The conflicts build up under the surface and over time pressure starts to form cracks. Then at some point, earlier better than later if lucky, an outside force, a loose cannon if you will, will give it sometimes even the slightest kick, and the whole thing explodes. Granted, sometimes it takes a generation or two but the Gods of the Copybook Headings have time on their side. Tik-toc China.
Not news for those of us who have paid attention.
As I said in this lengthy thread over at Franklin’s Artblog,
For readers with an interest in such things, there’s plenty to chew on over there.
Trumpington Road? Really?