One More Before The Holidays

An open thread, that is. Now share links and bicker ye. I have things to do. I will, however, set the ball rolling with, via Damian, a polite notice of note, and some festive bathroom scenes. 

If the cravings are too much, you can always poke through the reheated series and greatest hits.

Comments

[Mike]

some festive bathroom scenes.

That's what I look for in a woman.

[Mags]

"Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sent beard shavings to Azealia Banks so she could make an amulet to protect him from ISIS"

https://twitter.com/NME/status/1074952674758537216

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I am not sure why she is upset, though, what with all the privilege she'll get with that certificate.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

#WokeJoke

[David]

I am not sure why she is upset, though, what with all the privilege she’ll get with that certificate.

Impurity detected, weeping ensues.

[R. Sherman]

Impurity detected, weeping ensues.

So much for things being "socially constructed..."

[Clam]

Bargain.

https://twitter.com/DamCou/status/1074973639777443840

[Joan]

This.

https://twitter.com/OrwellNGoode/status/1074993325256650754

[R. Sherman]

Pertinent to a discussion we had on these pages some threads back, specifically with respect to the reverence showed to public safety institutions, a reverence which might not be necessarily deserved. At the time, I noted the lack of legal liability for even a willful failure to safeguard the public. Stated differently, there is no legal duty for taxpayer-funded public safety institutions to actually keep the public safe. (N.B. I say "institutions." There is no doubt that individual first responders have been and will be heroes. Their individual heroism is more profound given their insulation from legal liability if they fail to perform.)

[David]

This.

Heh. I see Zoe imagines that children are somehow unselfish, which I suspect will be news to many parents, and says that she and her six-year-old son are “aligned” politically. She then cites her son’s belief that houses and food shouldn’t cost money. “This way of thinking would have been quite useful,” she says.

In utterly unrelated news, the Guardian hasn’t made a profit in about twenty years.

[R. Sherman]

This.

With respect to Orwell, it's not that children share adults' political views. The problem is that adults admire the political views of children.

[Captain Nemo]

O/T, (probably more suitable for Friday Ephemera) but this is too good not to share. Over engineered glitter bomb anti-theft package of note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=498&v=xoxhDk-hwuo

[Captain Nemo]

Sorry, that link starts in the middle. This link starts at the beginning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxhDk-hwuo

[Rafi]

says that she and her six-year-old son are “aligned” politically.

Six year olds don't understand economics. And Zoe writes for the Guardian.

[David]

Bargain.

Depends on the wife, I should think.

Sorry, that link starts in the middle.

Come on, Nemo. Get it together.

[Steve E]

I am not sure why she is upset, though, what with all the privilege she'll get with that certificate.

She'll probably start voting for Trump.

[Monty James]

Every year the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) sent out his famous home-made Christmas cards, and every year his friends wished that he wouldn't.

[Boatswain's Mate]

I am not sure why she is upset, though, what with all the privilege she'll get with that certificate.

She'll probably start voting for Trump.

And discover a long-hidden love for ice hockey.

Or Dressage

[Sam Duncan]

She then cites her son’s belief that houses and food shouldn’t cost money. “This way of thinking would have been quite useful,” she says.

I believe that human beings should be able to soar like birds, and that I should be an astronaut. Belief is cheap*. Houses and food, on the other hand, require effort and materials to be expended in their production. They are expensive.

How does someone who can't think get a well-paid job writing think-pieces?

*Usually. Try believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. That could cost you more than a house.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Good news, everyone ! He is risen !

Godfrey Elfwick is back among the living here tackling the thorny problem of comedy.

[Daniel Ream]

she and her six-year-old son are “aligned” politically. She then cites her son’s belief that houses and food shouldn’t cost money. “This way of thinking would have been quite useful,” she says.

I recall an article some years back about one of the many side effects of rampant single motherhood: single mothers treating their young children like adult friends rather than children in an already unstable home environment. The example given, allegedly a true story, was a mother having a serious conversation with her 6 and 4 year old about a downturn in mommy's income affecting the household budgets for various things.

Although that article focused mostly on the impact on the children of having very adult concerns thrust on them by a parent seeking support and approval, articles like this one make me think there's a two-way process going on, in which single mothers who have projected their need for social support onto their children start affording those children the respect and consideration one normally extends to adult companions.

[Chester Draws]

I am not sure why she is upset, though, what with all the privilege she'll get with that certificate.

She's in the US, no? So the one drop rule applies.

Tiger Woods is black, not Asian. Obama is black, not white. The other drops simply do not count.

[Bill de Haan]

Six year olds don't understand economics. And Zoe writes for the Guardian.

That's quite all right, neither to Guardian readers.

By channeling a six year old, she's just showing that she knows her target demographic.

The difference is that in 4-5 years, the six year old may learn something about the world, and update his/her worldview.

[Hopp Singg]

Next up in the Guardian: "My cat is a socialist and that's a good thing.

[JuliaM]

Wait, ‘before the holidays’..? They’ve already started! *uncaps whisky*

[Ten]

...there is no legal duty for taxpayer-funded public safety institutions to actually keep the public safe. (N.B. I say "institutions." There is no doubt that individual first responders have been and will be heroes. Their individual heroism is more profound given their insulation from legal liability if they fail to perform.)

The increasingly common HEE-rows trope for the special class delivered to public servants tends to run afoul of the evident fact that would-be public servants with integrity may just refuse to serve Orwellian institutions.

Is it realistic to assert character only inside such a system?

[TimT]

Lefties are so sweet the way they believe children share their own socialist beliefs and don't say any of this shit for adult approval.

[Steve E]

Lefties are so sweet the way they believe children share their own socialist beliefs...

They certainly share their bloodlust.

[David]

They’ve already started! *uncaps whisky*

Someone escort Ms M to the sobering centrifuge. 30 minutes should do it.

[WTP]

Captain Nemo, that was SHWEEEEEET!!!! Wife was wondering why they pixelated the faces. Heh. Because they had to, of course, of course, of course. It would be wrong, wrong, wrong to show them. Of course, of course, of course.

[TimT]

The festive bathroom scenes reminded me of the story of a journalist conferring with an editor as to how to get a toilet seat (which he needed at his house) out of the building without others noticing. Quoth the editor: "Put it over your head and say you're going to a fancy dress party."

[lotocoti]

Not a parody account.

[Watchman]

“My cat is a socialist and that's a good thing.”

"From those that have cat food and petting to those that need cat food and petting"

[David]

James David Banker on Mao’s children of the revolution:

Amid the hysteria, teachers, professors, and intellectuals did not dare to stand up to the students or defend their colleagues lest they suffer similar fates. But they could not escape by being bystanders. With every word and action becoming potential evidence of capitalist sympathy, teachers and intellectuals enthusiastically joined their students in the struggle sessions and screaming rallies.

Then, quite quickly, the horror-show unfolded.

[Lancastrian Oik]

Home-made arcade game.

[David]

Home-made arcade game.

That wouldn’t get maddening at all.

[Lancastrian Oik]

Dinosaur death-match.

[David]

Dinosaur death-match.

Sort of explains the extinction, really.

[Lancastrian Oik]

And finally, a spelling mistake of note.

[R. Sherman]

Then, quite quickly, the horror-show unfolded.

Sheds new light on the recent think-pieces about giving younger people the right to vote, doesn't it?

[David]

Sheds new light on the recent think-pieces about giving younger people the right to vote, doesn’t it?

It does, I think, have a contemporary resonance.

[R. Sherman]

It does, I think, have a contemporary resonance.

See, e.g. Lococoti's "not a parody" link above.

[Adam]

Poor Nia! I can’t imagine anything worse than finding out that you have European DNA.

Hey, wait a minute! Wasn’t DNA discovered by a couple of white guys? So, it figures that the DNA system has been devised to privilege whiteness and oppress POC.

Throw out that DNA “test”! It is just one more way for the Man to control you and mess with your mind.

[Adam]

I did not know that dinosaurs could laugh. Those two are definitely laughing.

Died of laughter, most likely

[Fred the Fourth]

https://quillette.com/2018/12/18/confessions-of-a-soulless-troglodyte-how-my-brooklyn-literary-friendships-fell-apart-in-the-age-of-trump/

Rtwt. Another self-rescue describes the swamp he escaped.

[Steve E]

Then, quite quickly, the horror-show unfolded.

As I said upthread, "They certainly share their bloodlust."

A world without consequences will be ruled by the sadists among us.

[Pogonip]

Re the Quillette article: “Jamie’s wife put her own ambitions on hold blah blah blah blah...”. So he could write while she took care of the baby.

Have none of these people ever heard of divvying up the work? “He’s asleep! Quick! I’ll clean the bathroom, you work on your book!” Then the next time, they swap. Even the fussiest baby does not cry 24/7 (I know, I had him). You work together, around the baby. The people in articles like this never sound like human beings in a family. They sound like billiard balls, rolling blindly around on a table, occasionally caroming off one another. What kind of childhood turns human beings into billiard balls?

[Pogonip]

Hey David,

What’s this December’s strange kitchen object? I’m still waiting for the flamethrower to get used. Now that I think about it, no one has submitted a small appliance report in months. We still have Advanced Toast Technology, thank God.

[Spiny Norman]

What kind of childhood turns human beings into billiard balls?

Helicopter parents who then send their lambs off to be educated by the public school system on how to be human, with, umm... mixed results.

[Steve E]

Helicopter parents who then send their lambs off...

Then there's children of helicopter parents who are now parents themselves who haven't seemed to master the most basic of skills.

I was at my town's Christmas parade a few weekends back and witnessed first hand a twenty-something father with his four-year-old son attempt to take the wrappers off of candy canes and lollipops. It became obvious that the young father, having been raised by helicopter parents, had never had to remove a candy wrapper for himself. It was repeated by the father's friend--also a twenty-something father of a four year old--who demonstrated the same ineptitude.

The unlearning is progressing at a rapid rate.

[JuliaM]

When zoos get woke...

https://twitter.com/CountDankulaTV/status/1075547955254431744

[Pogonip]

There otter be a law!

[Norval]

...children of helicopter parents who are now parents themselves who haven't seemed to master the most basic of skills ... The unlearning is progressing at a rapid rate

The generation of men who are now bringing up young children are, despite gender equality and paternal leave, on the whole less comfortable than their fathers and grandfathers at dealing with children, less trusting of their own instincts and more likely to be soppy-stern than say the baby boomer generation of parents.

The baby boomer generation of fathers was brought up in larger families, with older siblings learning how to care for the younger, and the younger siblings becoming uncles and aunts in their teens. Even if they didn't start having babies in their twenties, they would have become accustomed to babies through their circle of friends. And for better and for worse, men had more opportunity to have playful interactions with neighborhood children without second-guessing or suspicion.

In this generation, it's quite likely that when the IVF registers a hit at the age of 41, the new father is holding a baby for the first time in his life (if he's the younger of the 2.2 children his parents had), or for many decades (if he's the older sibling). That's a shocking amount of unlearning compared to previous generations.

[David]

Reluctant rescuee.

Via Dicentra.

[David]

Not a parody account.

Democratic socialists, San Francisco division.

Also this.

[WTP]

PG&E no more greed!
We should own our energy!

Again, the rhyming thing. Or not.

[R. Sherman]

Also this.

Of course, what they refuse to acknowledge is that the states idiotic environmental regulations for the last 40 years have prevented the infrastructure improvements necessary to prevent the things which agitate them. Not to mention, the moment government takes over is the moment that electricity starts to disappear. See, e.g. Venezuela and petroleum.

[David]

Again, the rhyming thing. Or not.

And were I to see someone with hammer-and-sickle tattoos on their fingers, I’d regard it much as I’d regard someone with teardrop tattoos on their face. I.e., as a sign of something gone horribly wrong.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Again, the rhyming thing. Or not.

Back in the day when music was still a thing taught in elementary school, there were things called "rhythm sticks" that taught rhythm, oddly enough. It appears they too have fallen by the wayside in the so-called education of these bozos. I suppose hitting sticks together was considered a violent act, or the sticks were weapons.

[pst314]

hammer-and-sickle tattoos...teardrop tattoos...a sign of something gone horribly wrong.

And a sign of someone that no sensible person wants in their neighborhood.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

a) Exhibit A for lack of introspection;

b) Second the motion.

[David]

b) Second the motion.

That frock does nothing for her.

[Captain Nemo]

Come on, Nemo. Get it together.

In my defence I've been unwell recently.

b) Second the motion.

If I were being unkind, I'd suggest humanity dodged a bullet there.

[WTP]

there were things called "rhythm sticks" that taught rhythm, oddly enough

In college a fellow dormrat was a fan of Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Whenever I hear “rhythm stick”, which fortunately is not often, I am reminded of their supposed hit, “Hit Me With Your Rhytm Stick”. It is a pavlovian response. It is not pleasant. Oddly enough. I often suspected that such a device was used for corporal punishment in his Catholic elementary school.

[David]

Today’s word is sway.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Today’s word is sway.

Today's word is sway*.

*Cuidado por trabajo.

[pst314]

Farnsworth, not all of us read Spanish.

[pst314]

Today’s word is sway.

Good grief, where is that? Do I see tiles or masonry bricks?

[David]

Good grief, where is that?

Unsure. The Reddit thread in question doesn’t say.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Farnsworth, not all of us read Spanish.

You do now...

[R. Sherman]

@Farnsworth,

"Rebotar" might be more appropriate.

[R. Sherman]

Today’s word is sway.

Someone missed the class on "Static Equilibrium."

[Monty James]

How to insult a Viking.

[Spiny Norman]

Steve E

The unlearning is progressing at a rapid rate.

Heh. Yes, we live in the Age of the Great Unlearning.

[Spiny Norman]

How to insult a Viking.

In war, of course, all rules are lifted, especially when you are trying to terrorize your foes, so muðnið likely was rampant on the battlefield.

No go away or we shall taunt you a second time-uh!

::snort::

[Jonathan]

Tweet of Note

[Jonathan]

'Tis the season to be Jolly......

[Joan]

Woke backfire #2,006...

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/baby-its-cold-outside-cover-by-dean-martin-soars-to-no-10-amid-controversy

[David]

Woke backfire #2,006...

Heh. Though I think the Margaret Whiting & Johnny Mercer version, linked here, is superior.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Woke backfire #2,006...

[David]

‘Self-described feminist has obnoxious and spiteful personality’ shock.

Via Ben.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Lefty transplant from Oregon with bad haircut who "...watched the elections at Union Pizza, where I saw my colleagues and friends slouched over in tears of dread and sadness when we realized that Trump would be our next president..." and thinks the local yokels "voted against their interests", suddenly has a sad because a German faux journalist made up stuff about the small town he is infecting.

It is interesting that this starts as a decent piece that outlines why none of the self-proclaimed elites have a clue about Flyoverlandia in that if what they find doesn't match their preconceived notions, they will, as usual, ignore the facts, but then the author goes off the rails turning his nose up at those same yokels who, evidently, don't appreciate the untold wealth, happiness, and veritable Utopia that his Herculean labors at his "...office at Springboard for the Arts..." will bring.

If only the German author had been able to sit down with our hero, then he would have:

...got the story of Fergus Falls residents who proudly attended the women’s marches in St. Paul or D.C., and displayed Black Lives Matters signs in our yards or buttons on our jackets, people who mentor immigrants and refugees in the region, people who grow their own food and bike everywhere in order to protect the environment...

IOW, I am guessing, the story of this clown and his wife.

[R. Sherman]

It is interesting that this starts as a decent piece that outlines why none of the self-proclaimed elites have a clue about Flyoverlandia . . .

Yeah, I got that impression too. The authors want to make sure that their "equals" know they haven't "gone native." Were I a resident of Fergus Falls, I'm not sure I'd be more pleased with their effort at rebuttal than I would have been with the version in Der Spiegel.

[Sam]

These links make me sad. Sometimes I hate being stuck in the dumbest timeline.

And before you say it - no thanks to the credit notes. They smell of cheap potpourri. I don't even like expensive potpourri.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

The authors want to make sure that their "equals" know they haven't "gone native."

Nope they are just...

...people who have chosen the simplicity rural life as a protest against the often extravagant necessities of city living..

...except for the...

...locally crafted Stumbeanos coffee and a cappuccino as good as any coastal city [and addressing]...the future of rural communities and culture through events like the Rural Arts and Culture Summit...

It is a testament to the tolerance of the normals of Fergus Falls that they put up with these pretentious twits (substitute vowels allowed). Of course that could be "tolerated" in much the same manner as a puppy soiling the carpet, a village idiot, or a freak show, but still...

[Boatswain's Mate]

"Can't get Trump? Indict his children. A great alternative! So says a former Watergate prosecutor, Carter administration official, and executive director of American Bar Association."

Because that totally doesn't sound like sheer lawfare nastiness. Nope, not at all. Justice being blind is just a dog-whistle for fascists, don'cha know.

https://twitter.com/ByronYork/status/1075733383194513413

[WTP]

...got the story of Fergus Falls residents who proudly attended the women’s marches in St. Paul or D.C., and displayed Black Lives Matters signs in our yards or buttons on our jackets, people who mentor immigrants and refugees in the region, people who grow their own food and bike everywhere in order to protect the environment...

And why do you suppose they're winning?

[WTP]

Can't get Trump? Indict his children. A great alternative! So says a former Watergate prosecutor, Carter administration official, and executive director of American Bar Association

From Wiki:

In 1987, she became the executive director of the American Bar Association, the first woman to hold that position. In 1989, there was a minor scandal after Wine-Banks persuaded the Illinois Attorney General's office, of which Wine-Banks had once been the second in command, to assign a prosecutor to investigate a veterinarian who she believed had negligently treated her Dalmatian, leading to the dog's death. After the Chicago Tribune ran a story titled "Grieving Dog Owner Unleashes Clout With State," a former ABA president, Eugene Thomas, circulated a letter in which he said that Wine-Banks "does not understand the use of power and lacks a sense of decorum and propriety in professional matters" and should be dismissed by the ABA. She left the ABA in 1990.

In 1992, Wine-Banks joined Motorola as a director and vice president, a position she held until 2000. From 1997 to 2000, she was also a vice president of Maytag. In 2001, she founded and was the chief executive officer of Winning Workplaces, a human resources firm. She left Winning Workplaces in 2003 and joined the Chicago Public Schools as chief officer for career and technical education, a post she held until 2008. Since November 2008, Wine-Banks has worked as a consultant with F & H Solutions

Lovely woman. The swamp is much bigger than even most conservatives want to believe. But don't try telling them that. They'll think your mad.

A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, "You are mad; you are not like us".
- Some hermit who lived in a hole in the wall in the desert.

[Damian]

Polyamorous sex is the most quietly revolutionary political weapon in the United States

It can't be that quiet; I've been hearing them go on and on about it for years now.

[Fred the Fourth]

The Fergus Falls piece...
I would bet my house that those authors have never heard of the Gell-Man Amnesia effect.
Among their other educational deficits...

[David]

Polyamorous sex is the most quietly revolutionary political weapon in the United States

I suspect Tim Newman may at some point share his thoughts on that one.

[R. Sherman]

It can't be that quiet...

Described thusly: "But the attendees of Tableaux fit in with the rest of privileged, gentrified Brooklyn: They match the dark, tattered-glamor aesthetic of the room; wear dark-grey clothes and plenty of eyeliner"

From this observation (and a visit to a commune of less than two dozen people in Virginia) come the conclusion that Polyamory is the most, most, most "revolutionary" movement in all of these here United States. No, really. It says so right there.

Tim Newman needs to submit a rebuttal.

[R. Sherman]

I suspect Tim Newman may at some point share his thoughts on that one.

There must be a way to see if someone else makes the same point while you're typing away at your own comment.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Polyamorous sex is the most quietly revolutionary political weapon in the United States

There are regular sex parties, some listed on kink websites so attendees can add them to their Google calendars well in advance, others advertised only by word of mouth. And there are events where polyamorists get together and no one has sex: Film screenings, picnics, cocktail parties, and other PG-friendly rendezvous.

You mock, but that is exactly the sort of thing that brought the Romanovs down.

[Chester Draws]

I regard wearing dark grey clothes as a bit of a sign that you're a person with a very negative outlook on life. People who wear primarily grey aren't just colorless, they're deliberately negating colour in their lives.

I own a few dark grey clothes. But I like them because them only to the extent that they don't intrude on the coloured ones I'm also wearing. A nice jacket doesn't need an intrusive shirt etc.

At least Goths, Emos, metal-heads etc know that black is a statement. Grey is a non-statement, a sign you think you're worthless.

[David]

Right, this week’s ephemera is compiled and should materialise in about an hour. I’m off to bed.

Play nicely. Use coasters.

[Hal]

Play nicely. Use coasters.

I found these over by the cash register, so these must be what David has in mind . . .

[Damian]

Grey is a non-statement, a sign you think you're worthless.

I happen to prefer drab colors in clothing — faded black, olive and (mostly light-to-medium) grey, and I can assure you I'm as megalomaniacal as the next fellow.

[Hal]

Grey is a non-statement, a sign you think you're worthless.

I happen to prefer drab colors in clothing . . . .

Traditionally the aristocracy survived because they were the wiliest of the tribe and knew when to lie low. Let the nouveau riche swagger around in their finery, showing off their wealth and getting their heads chopped off by royalty, or later by revolutionaries. Harry Stow-Crat's ancestors were prepared to dress up in their robes when the King commanded it; otherwise they camouflaged themselves and blended in with their surroundings. Thus today Harry is only copying his forebears when he wears a dark suit in the grey of London, and green, dung-coloured or brown clothes in the country. There was an additional reason for this. Harry's ancestors lived on what they shot, hunted and fished. It is easier to land your prey, whether it be a girl in London or a salmon on the Tay, if you blend with your background.

---Jilly Cooper, Class

[Boatswain's Mate]

WTG, Hal.

Someone set the HTML Batsignal alight.