Friday Ephemera

The clock is ticking, someone save the cat. || Close enough. || Close enough 2. || Breakfast cereal amplifier. || On second thoughts, perhaps not. || I question the parenting. || Toilet-related submarine mishap of note. || Burger-chain kitchen scenes. || His chocolate-cake lollipops are fancier than yours. (h/t, Elephants Gerald) || It also makes spherical ice. || The Megatherium Club. || Smarten up, your date’s here. || Tough day. || Tim Newman on standards and woke condescension. || Every Noise At Once. || Build your own wooden hurdy-gurdy. || Build your own functional paper organ. || And finally, when you mislabel baldness medication as an acid reflux treatment and inadvertently produce really hairy children.

Comments

[Captain Nemo]

The clock is ticking, someone save the cat

Cat rescue of note: https://twitter.com/seankent/status/1168963253319426049

Via DamCou.

[Ten]

The picture of this little girl before and after school has me howling.

It's hysterical how concrete institutions so nicely socialize small, impressionable humans.

[Hal]

The clock is ticking, someone save the cat.

Save The Cat!

[Hal]

Close enough 2

Close enough 3.

[Steve E]

Close enough 3.

I didn't watch until the end. Did Buster catch the wheel of double gloucester to win the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake?

[TimT]

His chocolate-cake lollipops are fancier than yours.

I don't like setting aside egg yolks like that. I get antsy when that happens in cooking - egg yolks deteriorate quickly.

[Steve across the Pond]

I can't come close to our host's witty commentary, so I'll just post it and let you be marveled.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/art-gallery-visitors-must-squeeze-19435116

[[+]]

really hairy children.

Band name.

[Darleen]

Re hairy children

who the hell is giving acid reflux meds to their SIX MONTH OLD in the first place??!!

[David]

Morning, all.

That’s a lot of Snickers and cheese.

Not an unfair point.

[David]

If anyone has trouble with comments not appearing, email me and I’ll take a broom handle to the spam filter.

[Liz]

The clock is ticking, someone save the cat.

That was close. :-)

[Jonathan]

Some of the most wholesome music videos I've ever seen.

(Qt Georgian girls don't hurt either.)

[Hal]

Infinity War, Part 3: Enter Sherlock Holmes

[svh]

Not an unfair point.

I can't even get files off an old laptop.

[David]

I can’t even get files off an old laptop.

I suppose it’s one of those things that exists not for social or technological realism but for ease of storytelling. I’ve been catching up on The Expanse - which starts off a bit meh but quickly gets quite interesting - and everyone’s manically wafting files from one device to another with a remarkable reliability. Society on several planets may be falling apart and the apocalypse may loom, but at least the Bluetooth works flawlessly.

[WTP]

I can't even get files off an old laptop.

And Phil Collins continues to randomly play on the audio system of my truck. But to be fair, and somewhat puzzling as well, it never plays anyone that I find exceptionally annoying. While I have found a possible solution, it's worse, and fraught with potentially more misery, than the mildly amusing problem itself. Seems like Arthur C. Clarke coulda/woulda/shoulda covered this.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I question the parenting.

Oh, come on, now. Who among us hasn't done that ?

art-gallery-visitors-must-squeeze

Bold and empowering, but don't objectify me, or something. Alas, I missed this visionary work, which probably explains all after.

In one performance of Rhythm 5 in 1974, she created a large star soaked in petrol, which she lit. She then threw in her cut toenails and hair, before lying down in the centre. Unfortunately, suffering from oxygen deprivation, she fell unconscious and had to be rescued by a doctor and members of the audience."

I blame the toenails.

who the hell is giving acid reflux meds to their SIX MONTH OLD in the first place??!!

Though of very low incidence, kids can get ulcers at any age, most commonly because of H. pylori infection, but also because of taking an NSAID like ibuprofen, sometimes a congenital hiatal hernia. Kids of any age can also have problems with reflux (infants initially have lousy esophageal sphincters which is why they spit up stuff if overfed) which can be an overlooked cause of respiratory problems and may actually be part of the cause of asthma in some.

A musical interlude for Dr Gagliano of the other day.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

It is OK when we do it, but you wypipo, not so much.

Meanwhile, someone doesn't quite understand reproductive biology.

[Y. Knott]

I can't even get files off an old laptop.

I recall an article in Science many years ago, with a picture of a first-edition Shakespeare (don't remember which) next to a 11" single-sided floppy disk. The author's point was that the first-edition Shakespeare was still perfectly legible after umpty-hundred years, the 20-year-old 11" floppy disk was no longer of value to anybody but a museum because nothing could read it.

[pst314]

not an unfair point

From the link: "The most unrealistic element of every sci-fi movie is that all their technology is compatible with all their other technology."

Equally unrealistic: the technology works reliably, and the user interfaces are all very well designed.

[David]

Teen Vogue is still going full-on “social justice” and still giving youngsters really bad advice.

[pst314]

Teen Vogue is still going full-on “social justice” and still giving youngsters really bad advice.

The three steps of leftist politics:
1. Advocate harmful ideas.
2. Harm results.
3. Double down on those same harmful ideas.

[Burnsie]

Tough day

Heh. That bag may hold the head of a classmate who had a tougher day.

[Alex]

We hear a lot about people, in merrie old England and in the United States and in other places, who don't think you should have the right or the ability to defend yourself. But this one takes it to a whole new level:

https://twitter.com/shailjapatel/status/1168682215091273730

"When you tell women and girls to learn self-defense, or carry weapons against rapists, you're not reducing rape. You're just saying "let him rape someone more vulnerable.""

Best reply (in my opinion): "If you lock your house and install a security system, you're asking the burglar to rob a different house."

[Darleen]

Meanwhile, someone doesn't quite understand reproductive biology.

IOW, she has a kink ... which actually provides more evidence that trangenderism isn't just about dysphoria but about autogynephilia.

[David]

The three steps of leftist politics:
1. Advocate harmful ideas.
2. Harm results.
3. Double down on those same harmful ideas.

In case anyone missed it, Exhibit A.

[ Added: ]

An enormous chunk of the left seems hell-bent on eroding attitudes and behaviours that are assets for living – whether it’s monogamous coupling, managed migration, or emotional self-possession. And once lost, these attributes and habits are difficult to regain, perhaps irretrievable. Laurie Penny’s evasive, self-flattering prattle, linked above, is just a convenient shorthand for a wider trend. She has almost all of the signature tics of modern leftism.

And as noted before, Ms Penny’s own career trajectory would most likely have been impossible without the residual effects of the values and priorities that she claims to despise - and without a great many other people cultivating those same values and keeping things ticking over. A fact Laurie counts on, albeit quietly. In effect, we, the bourgeois rubes, are her safety net. The fact that few of us are credulous enough to take her at her words and follow her advice is what allows her to mouth it in relative comfort and security, knowing that the destruction of capitalism, heteronormativity or whatever (and all that goes with it), which she claims to want, won’t happen just yet.

[Darleen]

Mr. Mosley? Meet James Damore. Mr. Damore, meet Walter Mosley.

[pst314]

An enormous chunk of the left seems hell-bent on eroding attitudes and behaviours that are assets for living

Which supports my contention that the chief motive for leftism is hatred of our civilization (or any civilization.)

[David]

Which supports my contention that the chief motive for leftism is hatred of our civilization

Well, if you try to fathom leftism on its own professed terms, and in terms of its outcomes and likely outcomes, it very often seems incoherent and irrational, impervious to the lessons of reality, evasive, dishonest or simply perverse. But if you think of it in terms of psychology, not least vanity and spite, a lot of it becomes explicable, if not particularly attractive.

[Hopp Singg]

Leftism is based in envy, which in turn is rooted in status anxiety, I think.

If you wanted more of it, you could dumb down education and ability whilst simultaneously encouraging an entitlement attitude. This would mean followers could only build themselves up and raise their status (in their own eyes, at least) by tearing others down.

Hey, wait...

[pst314]

But if you think of it in terms of psychology, not least vanity and spite, a lot of it becomes explicable

Indeed. Must never forget vanity as a motive--both the vanity of virtue-signalling and the vanity of intellectuals demonstrating their superior cleverness by concocting elaborate theories to justify embracing foolish and evil ideas.

[David]

demonstrating their superior cleverness by concocting elaborate theories to justify embracing foolish and evil ideas

For instance.

[Steve E]

From: For instance.

"If the family is this source of unfairness in society then it looks plausible to think that if we abolished the family there would be a more level playing field.

When you imagine yourself as part of the ruling elite, everyone else must be on the lowest level possible.

[Ten]

Leftism has the tells and symptoms of clinical disorder but structurally it manifests as simple force. You shall do as we say or you will suffer the consequences.

When in the minority they're abrasive in the extreme. When in the majority they just steamroll things.

But this is not intolerance. Or lacking compassion. Just ask them.

[David]

When you imagine yourself as part of the ruling elite, everyone else must be on the lowest level possible.

The arrogance throughout, the colossal presumption, is quite extraordinary. And then of course there’s this bit:

Parents reading their children bedtime stories… are unfairly disadvantaging other people’s children.

As feats of moral contortion go, it’s quite a thing.

Somewhat related, this and this.

There is, it seems, a pattern.

[Daniel Ream]

I suppose it’s one of those things that exists not for social or technological realism but for ease of storytelling.

It's as if the word "allegory" has completely vanished from the English language.

This video may help explain why these kinds of details generally aren't the most important thing on a movie set.

"Isn't smoking on a space station a problem, though?"

"It's one line in the script. 'Thank God they invented the - you know, whatever device.'"
~ Thank You For Smoking

[David]

It’s as if the word “allegory” has completely vanished from the English language.

Heh. Yes, that, an al-a-ma-whatsit.

The Expanse is definitely growing on me. It took a few episodes to find its footing – there’s a lot of worldbuilding to do and the plotting and pacing starts off a little wobbly - but things pick up significantly in time for season two, and more so in season three. I’d be happy to watch it just for Shohreh Aghdashloo’s elaborate wardrobe choices. She may be pulling a high-g burn or facing imminent annihilation in a hail of nuclear torpedoes, but by God she’ll go out looking fabulous.

She’s a Servalan for the 21st century.

[a different james]

The clock is ticking, someone save the cat

That reminds me- Mrs James is expecting intimacy tonight

[David]

That reminds me- Mrs James is expecting intimacy tonight

[ Summons henchlesbians. ]

[Sam]

The Expanse is definitely growing on me.

That lead character though. Such an odd show in that it brings so much to the table yet finds many different ways to undermine all that solid work. Overall worth it but there's enough holding it back to rule out a re-watch.

[Daniel Ream]

there’s a lot of worldbuilding to do and the plotting and pacing starts off a little wobbly

I'm a big fan just by virtue of the fact that it's at least sort-of kind-of trying to do hard SF, and that's an untapped subgenre. But it comes with the hazard that most people have no familiarity with SF that doesn't follow the Star Trek model, so there's a certain amount of groundwork that has to be laid.

[Steve E]

Soylent Green is people.

[Steve E]

It's a slippery slope from waiting for people to die and harvesting them in the street.

[pst314]

It's a slippery slope from waiting for people to die and harvesting them in the street.

It's a slippery slope from apt comments to self-referential links.
The page source shows that you intended this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wa4U6TQlNI

[Steve E]

The page source shows that you intended this:

Thanks pst314! It's been a long day. I normally test the link before posting.

For anyone who missed it, here it is again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wa4U6TQlNI

[Darleen]

Who's ambitious enough to make this for Halloween?

[David]

That lead character though.

He’s not well written or convincingly acted. Just pouty.

Overall worth it but there’s enough holding it back to rule out a re-watch.

Yes, that’s my feeling, more or less. I’ve yet to see any great episodes, anything hitting a 9 or higher - nothing has wowed me in the way that, say, the first few episodes of the retooled Battlestar Galactica did - but there are enough good ones to keep my interest for now. Thanks largely to Ms Aghdashloo’s tailoring and the nature of the MacGuffin.

[David]

I’m a big fan just by virtue of the fact that it’s at least sort-of kind-of trying to do hard SF, and that’s an untapped subgenre.

Yes, that’s commendable and, to be clear, the detailed worldbuilding is appreciated. Watching spaceships armed with railguns in battle is fun too, and the MacGuffin is an intriguing one. The main weaknesses, I think, are the casting and acting, at least of some of the main characters. Neither Holden nor Naomi are compelling characters or convincingly acted. Oh, and I could live without the Belter’s patois.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

New keyboard design promised hours of amusement.

Not to worry, he has his safety reflective PT belt on.

From my cold dead brony hands hooves.

[fnord]

Which supports my contention that the chief motive for leftism is hatred of our civilization (or any civilization.)

To be fair it could simply be resentment and envy. At any rate it does not proceed from a healthy mind set.

[fnord]

If one were to use the keypants for the primary function of the internet i.e. the viewing of ...... stimulating images *ahem* then how many entertaining typos would result?

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

Re: Keyboard pants.

Does it leave room for the joystick?

(C'mon, y'all had to be thinking that)

[Hal]

Not to worry, he has his safety reflective PT belt on.

Car Totaled After Striking Marine Wearing Reflective Belt

[Runcie Balspune]

Interesting point on Tim Newman, that perhaps the reason that less women enter "engineering" roles is there are lots of other "traditionally female" jobs that few men consider, primary school education, childcare, and general healthcare are examples, in such cases it might be better to encourage men to get into these roles rather than get women into engineering, if you want to even out the field.

Scott Adams has another solution - https://dilbert.com/strip/2019-09-04

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

[TimT]

Interesting point on Tim Newman, that perhaps the reason that less women enter "engineering" roles is there are lots of other "traditionally female" jobs that few men consider, primary school education, childcare, and general healthcare are examples...

I get the impression there used to be more blokes at least in school education, so it isn't really a 'traditionally female' role, surely. Even so, if that is the case, all the more reason for evening out the role disparity.

[Henry]

My first sight of this blog was the piece named "the penny hasn't dropped" - and the following paragraph stayed with me:

When not railing against a heteronormative police state that’s brutal, intolerant and also on fire, Ms Penny likes to share with us an extensive menu of personal miseries, along with other aspects of her fascinating self

It occurred to me recently that I haven't heard much about her recently, for some odd reason, so I looked her twitter account up - and by George, I discovered that Laurie is still going, and the world is still on fire.

Thank God for that.

Well if you like a phrase, you may as well reuse it.
https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=on%20fire%20from%3Apennyred&src=typed_query

[WTP]

Well if you like a phrase

Ooh. This one. This from August 9. This is soooo goooood:

-the world is on fire and nobody knows how to stop fascism

Me: yes but it’s important not to panic.

-the office party today is also a pool party because this is L.A.

Me: ok panic now.

[David]

My first sight of this blog was the piece named “the penny hasn’t dropped”

It seems so long ago. You’ve been serving time in this dive almost as long as I have.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I get the impression there used to be more blokes at least in school education...

In my corner of South Flyoverlandia, in the Before Times public schools grades 1-6 were almost exclusively the province of female teachers, with males being introduced 7-12. Private schools were female > male in lower school, almost exclusively male in middle and upper school. Parochial schools, no idea, but I suspect, based on tales from friends, that the penguins ruled in the lower grades.

[pst314]

I get the impression there used to be more blokes at least in school education, so it isn't really a 'traditionally female' role, surely.

The ratio at my old high school seems about the same today as in the sixties: more than half women but not that much more than half: more women than men teaching English and foreign languages, more men than women teaching the physical sciences, roughly equal numbers teaching history and math.

What troubles me is that the staff directory shows twice as many "special education" teachers as English teachers, showing that the situation has not improved much since the sixties in spite of all the programs to help "disadvantaged" children and families.

[pst314]

It seems so long ago.

From the link: "The planet is boiling; the rivers are drying up..."

Sounds like an apocalyptic novel by J. G. Ballard.

[pst314]

but I suspect, based on tales from friends, that the penguins ruled in the lower grades.

"He shall rule them with a rod of iron" became "She shall rule them with a yardstick of iron."

[pst314]

A happy story: Vegans Storm Spanish Rabbit Farm, Surprised When Farmers Fight Back.
"...The farmer was extremely aggressive and attacked us, strangling activists and smashing their heads with metal poles..."

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

What troubles me is that the staff directory shows twice as many "special education" teachers as English teachers...

Out of curiosity, I discovered my grade school (public) has a website. Back in the dawn of time, aside from the teachers, there was a principal, a secretary, a nurse, a librarian, the lunch lady and staff, and the custodial staff.

Now there are 23 teachers including gym, art and music for 6 grades, the lunch lady, custodians, a couple of no job listed, the nurse, the principal and 20 other various straphangers to include social workers, psychologists, and family busybodies, the librarian has morphed into a "media specialist", and yet people wonder why education costs more and still don't know is our chirrens learning. There are now a couple of male teachers, though. Back in the day only the music teacher was.

[pst314]

Now there are 23 teachers including gym, art and music for 6 grades

Has the number of students increased significantly? That might partly account for the increase.

[pst314]

What troubles me is that the staff directory shows twice as many "special education" teachers as English teachers...

I have no problem with specially trained teachers for kids with various learning or behavioral problems, as long as they really are serving a useful purpose. The intended point of my comment was only that it seemed to indicate that there had been no decrease in the number of kids needing such teachers: Back in the sixties the high school drew students from very different neighborhoods: middle class and upper middle class whites from one direction, working class whites and blacks and ghetto blacks from the other. There were, thus, a lot of kids in the "special ability" track. (A euphemism for "not so smart" or poorly prepared.) All those programs to help disadvantaged kids were supposed to have radically reduced the problem but it seems as if the situation has improved only moderately, which is very depressing. All this is, of course, based on memories that are half a century old.

[pst314]

This is a metaphor for something, although I'm not quite sure what.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Has the number of students increased significantly?

It doesn't say, but the school map shows the same number of classrooms, and there were no separate art or gym teachers (art was done by the regular teachers and gym was run around like madmen at recess), and no kindergarten (that was optional and private), so I am guessing the basic load of real teachers & students is about the same.

[pst314]

Ingmar Bergman's King Kong vs Godzilla

[pst314]

Venn diagram of note:

[Pogonip]

Thought you Brits might find this an enjoyable topic for discussion:

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2019/09/brexit-and-the-decline-of-the-english-novel/

David, how’s married life? I’m sure there are many interesting differences from what you 2 have been doing for the last 27 years.

[David]

David, how’s married life?

Achievement unlocked. I’ve engaged Harridan Mode.

[WTP]

I’ve engaged Harridan Mode.

You know they say that wedding cake puts on like 15 pounds, often much more.

[Hal]

Achievement unlocked. I’ve engaged Harridan Mode.

. . . Giving, or getting?

[pst314]

This is a metaphor for something, although I'm not quite sure what.

Sorry, I screwed that up: the URL should take you to 6 minutes into the video, but the mandatory ads prevent that from happening. Hop ahead to 6:15 and you'll see the metaphorical auto.

[Henry]

"You’ve been serving time in this dive almost as long as I have"

And it's been a wheeze, but I see I'm still writing sentences in the comments like:

"It occurred to me recently that I haven't heard much about her recently"