Friday Ephemera (705)
Judgement promptly validated. || Ice-cream scoop insertions and other medical emergencies. || Somewhat related: Things done to penises in 2023. || Recovered Kodachromes of New York in the Fifties and Sixties. (h/t, Lancastrian Oik) || Like conkers, I guess. || On crime and incarceration. || Question asked, answered. || Being so clever, he doesn’t believe in sky daddy. || Lion relocation. || If you got rid of the toaster, you’d have space for one of these. || Suboptimal road surface. || Set-up and payoff. || The progressive retail experience, parts 526 and 527. || Pressing oil. || For enthusiasts of diecast model cars, The Little Wheels Museum. (h/t, Things) || I laughed and I’m not sorry. || A little artistic licence. || At last, a shower-toilet combo. || And finally, a hawk encounters a kitten with a force field.
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I’m sure there will be no shortage of “progressive” activists and lawyers to tell us that #justice and #equity require his release from prison.
Religion is one of the worst things to happen to mankind, quoth he.
Looking at him, random genetics have a lot to answer for as well.
“I lived in Manhattan in the 80s and always loved how a demolished building left a schematic layout on the side of the adjacent surviving building – imagining people moving within those spaces, up and down the stairs.”
I, too, have seen some fascinating examples of that. And also faded 1940’s advertisements painted on the sides of old buildings.
Nature, nuture, or both? I often ask that, inn general and about specific sad cases. I know some well adjusted socially competent gays and lesbians (as well as some who are badly messed up) but no such trans people. I hope that some day this wide range in psychology will be understood and treatments found–horrible to go through life so messed up and unhappy. And the applies to the fates of people of low intelligence:
The neuroscience of intelligence: Jordan Peterson interviews neuroscientist Richard J. Haier. 40 years ago the question was “Do intelligence and other cognitive traits have a genetic component?” Now the question is “Can we identify those genetic components?”
I know and knew a few people who liked to sneer about “sky daddy” and “flying spaghetti monster”. In the end, it became clear that all of them were each in their own ways toxic; the hostility to religion was just one facet of their defects.
Jordan Peterson’s research has shown that many far left dogmas correlate highly so that if someone holds one of those extreme beliefs it is highly likely that he will hold most or even all of the others as well, even though you might naively think there is no logical connection between, for example, hating Christianity and supporting BLM and Antifa.
This is the transgender movement:
“The NYT did a piece about a guy who spent decades in prison for killing two women, ‘identified’ as a woman while in prison, was released at the age 83, spent time in a women’s only shelter over the objections of its staff and the other women, beheaded another women weeks later, and is now in a women’s prison in NY because he “identifies” as a woman.”
Remember the Texas taqueria shooting back on January 5 2023? A Texas grand jury has declined to indict the shooter. Shot the thug 9 times. I think the last shot was clearly an execution shot (the thug was motionless face down after absorbing 8 bullets in the back) but perhaps one can excuse that final shot due to adrenalin. And it’s a very good thing the thug is dead–regardless of what his grieving mama says.
At last, a shower-toilet combo.
Wouldn’t the toilet paper get all wet and soggy? Or do you have to remember to take your roll in with you when you want to use that part of the facility?
Wouldn’t the toilet paper get all wet and soggy?
Who needs toilet paper when you’re literally standing in a bidet.
Love the Kodachromes.
Simple solution: the old corncob!
“If you got rid of the toaster, you’d have space for one of these.“
Damn, the AirFryer wasn’t the last craze to hit kitchens after all…
“And finally, a hawk encounters a kitten with a force field.“
The ‘expression’ of bafflement on the hawk rather reminds me of Claudine Gay during those hearings, somehow…
Morning, all.
Some street gyrations.
Well, as noted here, chappie’s long history of violent crimes and feral behaviour includes battery, robberies, repeated domestic violence, home invasion, and umpteen other things, and yet he wants us to believe that he deserves to be spared the customary, if belated, consequences.
Again, I miss the concept of shame.
I also miss the concept of dealing with dangerous animals before the list of horrors gets quite so extensive.
Just to be clear, clearly clear clear up front, this guy belongs in prison. He apparently should have been in prison long before this. Possibly an insane asylum as well. Either way this incident should never have had the opportunity to occur. What this judge handed out, or was attempting to hand out seems very appropriate even before he attacked her. That said, and again that said…
I have seen further context on this and more video. I’m not completely clear on the total context of course, neither is anyone outside of that specific courtroom. That said…again, that said…ahem…There is something about her body language and voice (though I could be wrong as I was having some bloody technical glitch such that the **** video kept stopping/glitching a few seconds into her speaking that likely impacted my perception) that comes across a bit arrogant. A man judge, that is a real man judge not the sort of …well you get the idea, would likely have come across much more firm yet also less arrogant. Maybe just being a man would have made a difference, I don’t know. But given the demographic, the attitudes towards women by male members of his demographic, having a white female in this role is its own problem. Putting on a robe does not magically make one an embodiment of legal authority. There needs to be some serious, non-intellectual gravitas involved as well. For a number of reasons beyond just this case. Yet similar situations, minus the linebacker stuff, go on every day in courtrooms across this country. The consequences are rarely this immediate or visible but the consequences are there nonetheless.
From the recovered Kodachromes, linked above.
As soon as I got the Sign of the Horns (hook ’em or otherwise) I soooo wanted to see them lions wake up.
Attention, Star Wars enthusiasts.
Should any still exist, I mean.
“Just like us” as our host would say.
I’ll just leave this here, shall I…?
Oh, and this.
And this.
And… well, we’ll be here all day.
Attention, Star Wars enthusiasts.
I grew bored just listening to her. How tedious these people are. And it is sad for someone like me who saw the first Star Wars film when it caem out. I remember when the Millenium Falcon first flew onto the screen: there were murmurs, gasps, “whoahs,” and other reactions from us 70s teens watching, having grown up on cheesy special effects.
It doesn’t inspire great confidence, no.
I was never a big Star Wars devotee, though I enjoyed the first two films as a child, so the collapse of the franchise, along with many others, doesn’t really impinge on my life. But it is quite extraordinary how these vast pop-cultural staples, once widely entertaining and enormously lucrative, are all now being driven into a ditch, the same ditch, and then set on fire.
In a way that, from here, looks determined.
Again, I miss the concept of shame.
“All cultures are equal and valid™.”
Clearly a machine for commercial bakeries, but I wouldn’t put it past some wealthy gadget faddists to buy one.
It’s also worth noting how the more activism-driven these things become, the more incompetent the execution seems to be. From basic scripting and pacing howlers to fight choreography and special effects, the drop in standards is often striking, sometimes hilarious.
And much the same thing can be seen in the equally woke online media that breathlessly fellates these things. Sites like io9 used to have quite in-depth articles by people who knew their nerdish stuff. But now, the content is by default ineptly-written trash. And again, it’s often inadvertently comical.
Wokeness and incompetence do seem to go hand-in-hand.
Seems like part (if not most) of his problem is a lack of impulse control, which I seem to recall is a typical characteristic of psychopaths: No restraint. Whatever they want, they take without thought for consequences or matters of right/wrong. So yes, prison or an asylum for the criminally insane seems the only right thing.
EDIT:
Could well be: It is well established that criminals in general do not respect women’s authority.
They do still exist, although it’s been over 5 years since I last talked face-to-face with any. In my experience, they will buy tickets for any Star Wars and Star Trek drek that Hollywood produces, even when they know it is drek.
Mama took our Kodachrome away. 🙁
The masses of shop signs, all jammed together and going up multiple floors, is fascinating–and quite different from current downtown street scenes.
[ Raises one eyebrow, in Spock-like inquiry. ]
Just how young are you?
My personal expectation is that any series will run out of steam, usually sooner rather than later, and become tedious and boring as the author runs out of ideas and motivation. It is best, therefore, for the author to stop before he embarrasses himself. George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones series is the example most frequently cited nowadays, but I could mention Frank Herbert’s Dune novels and Farmer’s Riverworld series, both of which I tired of after a few books. But hard core fans tend to be uncritical and will buy anything, and thus publishers will pressure authors to keep churning them out. An exception are Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories which seem to hold up well, presumably because each story is self-contained rather than being part of a story arc which the author grows tired of. (Or cannot figure out how to continue: It is very common for authors to start a series without any clear idea of the story arc, or for the story to take off in unexpected directions which make the originally conceived story arc impossible, and thus the author ends up not knowing what to do.)
My understanding is that most British TV series are planned this way from the beginning: A fixed number of episodes or seasons, with a known story arc, and that’s it. This seems like an admirable practice.
Ideologues are that way. It’s in the genes.
Have you read accounts of peasant life in Maoist China? After a hard day working in the fields, everyone was required to attend political indoctrination sessions which lasted well into the evening. There must have been plenty of haranguing, but I strongly suspect that it was usually just mind-numbingly dull and boring. Especially since these men and women were tired and just wanted to go home and sleep.
I have had only two female supervisors in my career, fortunately. Both were problems to work for. I admit that this is not always the case, but it does seem to be a pattern.
[ Applies moisturiser, dims lighting. ]
From the link:
That reminds me of an essay I read long ago, which quoted (disapprovingly) a literary critic who had “discovered” science fiction and praised it for its pulp trashyness.
If I remember enough to find it again, or if you nag me, I will dig it up and post a quote here. It must have been an elegant take-down if I remember its existence after all these years.
I’ll speculate that we don’t see this anymore because of the proliferation of building codes dictating in ever more detail what must and must not be done. In this case, the motivation being to keep downtown looking “clean” in an “elegant simplicity”. I don’t know much about this, but I do see news items on occasion about shops getting in trouble over signage.
“I’m not gay!”
Above, translated.
Assuming that affirming surgeries have been done, maybe he just likes open wounds and the smell of necrotic tissue.
Wait, did I say that out loud?
Them’s name is Tempest.
Why does she think she’s in a video game?
Re the above:
As the Critical Drinker notes in the video, a diversity-hire director pre-emptively boasting of setting up a gratuitously adversarial relationship with more than half of her expected audience – i.e., men – is not an obvious strategy for commercial success. Or indeed a fun two hours in the cinema.
I’ve been considering the various obnoxious public statements by man-hating Pakistani bigot Obaid-Chinoy, currently being promoted as the next Star Wars film director. Pronouncements guaranteed to alienate at least 80% of any potential future Star Wars audience:
“I like to make men uncomfortable. I enjoy making men uncomfortable“
“It’s 2024 now and I think that it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape the story in a galaxy far, far away”
Now firstly Ovoid-Chino’s strategy of directly appealing to the bloated ego of the similarly deranged “leader” of Lucas Film – Kathleen Kennedy (who you might think has already amply demonstrated the consequence of having a woman shaping the story in a galaxy far, far away) with these kind of hateful and divisive comments makes complete sense. And it’s obviously paid off well for her, because after all, here she is.
But here’s the thing I just don’t understand: How is there no-one in a senior position at Disney, watching their 4 BILLION dollar investment in Lucas being flushed down the shitter by these preening talentless woke zealots, willing or able to put a stop to the money-haemorrhage? No-one at all?
But what do i know? I’m probably just a cis-hetro-patriarchical-whyte-supremacist-ahole whose just terrified of a brown woman of talent. Or something.
Also.
HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!
My experience was that early on, the few female leads and managers…but mostly leads, were above average. Likely because they had to be very, very good/conscientious about their situation. After about the mid-90’s s*** went downhill fast.
Assuming any of that is real. Smells very suspect to me. I would need more reason to believe that these people are not play-acting than face value will permit. Are any of these people known entities? Like from more than five minutes ago?
Maybe they are like a few of the science fiction fans I occasionally speak with, who are certain that the future is woke and dysmorphic/dysfunctional, and that therefore the only profitable strategy is to cater to these twisted personalities.
Bruce Gilley on the New York Times “Arts” section. Do read the whole thing:
Things We Did Not Learn – Aporia (aporiamagazine.com)
You are assuming these people are motivated by money. Once people have hundreds of millions, or even tens of millions of dollars, what is more money? Just an objective form of dick measuring. The problematic word there being ‘objective’. Wokeness provides a much more subjective means of doing so. Kinda how cucumbers will disappear from the produce section at the grocery store.
Added: Note that the billions of dollars themselves do not belong to the senior people at Disney. They’re just mercenaries. And they continue to get paid win or lose.