Friday Ephemera

His copper bonsai is better than yours. || Serbian ensemble. || Like a stubborn jar of pickles. || I was previously unfamiliar with the erotic practice of stumping. || More joys of public transport. || Portraits rendered in charcoal. || Clouds over Lake Michigan. (h/t, DRB) || Twitching meat. || Lockdown scenes. (h/t, Dicentra) || Those prone to fainting should look away now. || Name the counties of the United States. You have 12 minutes. || Virtual tours of gardens and grand houses. || George’s besties. || It helps to have a back-up plan. || Hey, kids. Come play. || Old-school cloaking technology. || Simple but effective. || Filth removal of note. || And finally, topically, when the guy in front of you is doing this.

Comments

[Steve E]

...when the guy in front of you is doing this.

Dude, it's Tim Hortons coffee, just save yourself some time and drink the disinfectant. It probably tastes better.

[Daniel Ream]

And finally, topically, when the guy in front of you is doing this.

As was mentioned elsewhere, when the Kung Flu cancelled hockey playoffs it took Canadians about a week to develop a potential vaccine.

Tim Horton's and hockey are two things you do not f*ck with around here.

[TimT]

The Left: we need to come together to defeat this virus!

Also the Left: destroy the family!

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/coronavirus-crisis-shows-its-time-abolish-family/

[Hal]

George’s besties.

At this point:

This Tweet is unavailable.

Which George?

[Lady Cutekitten of Lolcat]

David, your long nightmare is almost over:

https://www.salon.com/2020/03/26/star-trek-picard-finale-review/

Skimming through this, I saw mention of Picard resembling action films. ?? David’s description made it sound more like an inaction film, akin to Star Trek: The Motionless Picture. (40 years later I clearly remember squirming and fidgeting as the Enterprise crawled through Viger an inch at a time.)

[Lady Cutekitten of Lolcat]

To the end of her life that poor girl will be hearing “Aren’t you the one who was trying to fire the cannon?”

[Daniel Ream]

Star Trek: The Motionless Picture

There's an absolutely fascinating story behind how and why ST:TMP turned out the way it did. Briefly, TMP was originally intended to be a two-part pilot for a new Star Trek series that was going to anchor a new Paramount/CBS television network (sound familiar?) Since it was originally conceived of as a TV movie, it didn't have the action one would expect of a big-budget SF theatrical release, opting instead for a more philosophical plotline.

[David]

Morning, all.

David, your long nightmare is almost over

I think I’ll wait for the Script Doctor’s more credible review. Oh and, now that it’s finally arrived in the UK, I’m quite enjoying The Mandalorian. I’ve only seen the first two episodes, so there’s not a huge amount I can say yet. But despite the low-key vibe, and despite the limitations of the basic conceit – the minimal dialogue, the lead character’s face being hidden, etc., it has a certain charm.

Which George?

Monbiot, and his super-cool buddies Extinction Rebellion, who seem to publicly delight in people dying from coronavirus. For Mother Earth, you see.

[ Edited. ]

[David]

The Left: we need to come together to defeat this virus! Also the Left: destroy the family!

As we’ve seen, Ms Lewis is, shall we say, working out some personal issues, resulting in a kind of convoluted depravity.

Unlike Ms Lewis, this gets to the point:

And despite her pretensions of radicalism, Ms Lewis is very much of a type. She fits the standard pattern.

[JuliaM]

" Like a stubborn jar of pickles."

She loosened it for him!

[David]

Star Trek: The Motionless Picture.

As I said during one late-night viewing of it, “Is this shot in real time?”

[MC]

A dark and twisted selection this week...

I was previously unfamiliar with the erotic practice of stumping.

No-one needs to know about this.

Those prone to fainting should look away now.

I foolishly clicked on this but managed to click away in time to avoid trauma.

I don't even want a credit note. I am going to try to self-isolate in Monet's virtual garden. (band name)

[Liz]

I was previously unfamiliar with the erotic practice of stumping.

*looks for unsee button*

[David]

No-one needs to know about this.

Hey, I had to read it. I don’t see why the rest of you should get off unscathed.

[David]

Speaking of unstable ladies of the left:

I’m not sure that Laurie is quite making the point that she thinks she is.

[Mike]

Can we imagine the end of capitalism now?

Queues for food. Shortages of toilet paper. People dying. Sounds a lot like communism.

Is that what she meant? :-)

[Tom]

Queues for food. Shortages of toilet paper. People dying. Sounds a lot like communism.

Is that what she meant? :-)

Wouldn't this be the perfect time for that "fully-automated luxury communism"* they're always banging on about to make an appearance and show the capitalist pigs how it's done?

Thought not**.

* - I know that's Aaron Bastani's thing but let's face it, I can't imagine Laurie wouldn't fall hook, line, and sinker for it.
** - Actually, if it really does hit the fan, this has the potential to change things in a commie direction which is really quite concerning.

[David]

I can’t imagine Laurie wouldn’t fall hook, line, and sinker for it.

I’ll just leave this here.

[David]

Is that what she meant? :-)

It’s in much the same category of moral obliviousness as when the self-styled “Occupy theoretician” David Graeber, a comrade of Laurie’s, imagined that the lumpen masses, i.e., the rest of us, would thrill to a vanguard of middle-class poseurs “destabilising the country” with a “vision of revolution inspired by anarchism.” Because the one thing that nice Mrs Wilson down the road can’t wait for is an anarcho-communist coup, economic ruin and lots of burning cars in the street outside.

[Squires]

fully-automated luxury communism

A long-winded and shiny new way of selling the lie of plain old communism. The communist elite get the luxury, the masses get to play the automatons.

[Xas7wcrg9e]

Twitching meat.

Beef jerky?

[H]

Twitching meat.

Band name.

[Farnswotth M Muldoon]

These irresponsible bassards will infect millions !

I mean, really. Just look at the crowds, and to think they took a private means of conveyance to get there. They are all probably racists too which is a good enough reason for the Derbyshire plod to bust their asses.

Speaking of asses, I want to be there when the CO2 levels in that thing getting in the 1-2500ppm range, not that she appears to functioning normally in the squash anyway.

Beef jerky?

Golf clap and jazz hands.

[Captain Nemo]

Star Trek: The Motionless Picture.

Great soundtrack though. One of Jerry Goldsmith's best: dense harmonies and interesting orchestral textures. I could listen to the music on its own.

[Kevin B]

I'm surprised no-one linked this from Kate at SDA especially you David.

Made I larf tho'

[David]

especially you David.

[ Peers over spectacles. ]

[Governor Squid]

I could listen to the music on its own.

Funny you should say that. I once put the Motion Picture Soundtrack in my DVD player instead of the Motion Picture itself, and it took me the better part of 20 minutes to realize my mistake.

[Scipio Americanus]

The communist elite get the luxury, the masses get to play the automatons.

Ooh, that's good. Also, now shamelessly stolen.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm entirely alone in really liking ST:TMP.

[Steve E]

Drama students at Tisch complain that you can't hold acting or dancing classes over Zoom and want their money back.

Dean responds.

Tbf her dancing is as good as or better than some of the "performance" art David has highlighted here.

h/t smalldeadanimals

[pst314]

More joys of public transport.

He's an "artist".
via: https://twitter.com/FabFitzy/status/1242819824339890176

[BrassG]

Those prone to fainting should look away now

I made it approximately 0.75 seconds into that video, which was how long it took me to move the mouse to the close tab icon. I think I acted quickly enough to save my appetite for lunch.

[Sam Duncan]

“Name the counties of the United States. You have 12 minutes.”

2130 isn't too shabby considering I only knew about three, and just randomly guessed Founding Fathers and 19th Century presidents (plus a few educated geographical punts) for 11 minutes. The 100km splash damage helps, mind you; I probably only got about 20 actual correct answers.

I'm not sure I could name all the counties in Britain in 12 minutes, to be honest.

“it took Canadians about a week to develop a potential vaccine.”

That was quick, but as the Blogfather is wont to say, faster please.

“I’m not sure that Laurie is quite making the point that she thinks she is.“

I'm sure as hellfire imagining the end of Chinese Communism right now.

[Captain Nemo]

Virtual tours of gardens and grand houses.

Here's another one. Clarence House, the London residence of Prince Charles:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5040999,-0.1386013,2a,75y,137.68h,92.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ss7_mUMxT-W4AAARAtEaLtg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[tkdkerry]

I was previously unfamiliar with the erotic practice of stumping.

Watching Rio Bravo will never be the same again.

[Darleen]

can we imagine the end of capitalism?

Sure, then we wouldn't have Ford & 3M teaming up to use parts off the shelves to make respirators, or Dyson pivoting on a dime from vacuums to ventilators, or Anheuser Busch & distilleries making hand sanitizers, or, now, MIT MacGyvering a ventilator for $100 out of readily available parts.

Yes, Laurie, you, too, could just sit at home and die while the Great People's Republic leaders were the only ones with access to healthcare - usually in a different, capitalist country.

[David]

Yes, Laurie, you, too, could just sit at home and die while the Great People’s Republic leaders were the only ones with access to healthcare - usually in a different, capitalist country.

At risk of being vulgar, I’m going to quote myself. From the comments following this:

Laurie is following the standard trajectory of her type. Her status and career would have been much less likely without the very same bourgeois values she claims to despise and urges others to reject. If instead of a stable, rather comfortable middle-class upbringing she’d been raised in keeping with her own professed values – say, by a welfare-dependent single parent with multiple transient partners and no stability or commitment - I somehow doubt she’d have been able to spend time at Wadham College finding herself politically and playing “riot girl.” And I doubt she’d now be able to flit around the world while tweeting about how oppressed she is.

Likewise, her self-imagined role as a wordsmith revolutionary would be much harder to sustain without a great many other people cultivating those same bourgeois values and keeping things ticking over. A fact that Laurie counts on, despite her pretence. In effect, we, the bourgeois rubes whose values she rails against, 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, marriage and the family unit (and all that would go with it), which she claims to want, won’t happen just yet.

It’s what makes Laurie, and all the other Lauries, so contemptible.

[Daniel Ream]

Sometimes I wonder if I'm entirely alone in really liking ST:TMP.

Of the entire Trek opus, I like the ship designs in the TMP era the best.

The uniforms look like they're bundling up for a stroll on a nippy fall day though.

[Governor Squid]

I've tried putting in terms that a spoiled college brat would understand:

"Today, you have four or five coffee shops within an easy walk. Each of them tries to source the best coffee beans they can, and blends them and roasts them in a variety of ways in an effort to be the most appealing to you. You have a favorite place with a favorite variety, but you know that you can stop into any of them and get a very satisfying cup.

"In your Brave New World, there will be only the People's Glorious Revolutionary Coffee Centre, and you'll be lucky if even one of these locations is convenient to your daily routine. The P.G.R. Coffee Committee will buy beans from the cheapest provider, at whatever minimum quality standard they think they can get away with. There will be one roast available, and it will be whatever the Commissar prefers. It might be free in your Worker's Paradise, but you'll be lucky if you get enough coffee ration cards to treat yourself twice a week.

"If you complain about the situation, you'll be punished by the P.G.R. Morale Committee. And if you ever decide to supply your own beans and roast them yourself, you'll have to do it in secret, because the moment one of your friends or neighbors gets in trouble with the P.G.R. Morale Committee themselves, they'll turn you over in a heartbeat to save their own skin.

Is this really a lifestyle conducive to your dreams of radical creativity? Can you write your revolutionary masterpiece fueled by just two cups of watery brown pseudo-coffee per week?"

Admittedly, the message gets through to very few. They always assume their Marxist philosophy professor will be the Commissar, never imagining that it's far more likely they'll be First Against The Wall.

[BrassG]

The uniforms look like they're bundling up for a stroll on a nippy fall day though.

I recently re-watched ST:TMP on Amazon. One of the trivia sidebars stated that the uniforms were so awkward and uncomfortable the entire cast refused to sign on for the sequel unless the uniforms were replaced. There was also something about Shatner and about a corset, but I shan't traumatize you with details.

[Darleen]

If you ever decide to supply your own beans and roast them yourself, you'll have to do it in secret

The Modern Little Red Hen by Sir Ronaldus Magnus 1976.

[Hal]

Her status and career would have been much less likely without the very same bourgeois values she claims to despise and urges others to reject.

[will]

Sometimes I wonder if I'm entirely alone in really liking ST:TMP.

You are not alone. It could certainly be a bit shorter, and the philosophy is kind of dopey, but I enjoy watching it. And, as others have said, the soundtrack is a masterpiece.

[Rick]

Gov. Squid If I may, the example of history would be Ersatz Coffee, usually Chicory. No way the P.G.R. elites are gonna let the proletariat have real coffee beans.

http://www.ww2incolor.com/modern/Linde__sErzatz.html

[pst314]

Ersatz Coffee, usually Chicory

Don't forget Postum.

[Lady Cutekitten of Lolcat]

After a couple of days of free publicity, Greta Thunberg has decided she didn’t have Coronavirus after all, thus saving herself from having to stay cooped up with Pa Thunberg for a couple of weeks.

[pst314]

Feminist, Queer and Trans Geographies: abolish the family!abolish the state! "What really matters to me... is the abolishment of the isolated privatization of human misery: the radical scarcity and overwork that is born of the logic of marriage and of family"

[Lady Cutekitten of Lolcat]

David, here’s an epic Picard rant for you. Enjoy! Also includes a bonus rant about some exceptionally silly-looking comic book characters.

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/386563.php

[Daniel Ream]

here’s an epic Picard rant for you

"I actually went back and looked on Google Groups, which acquired Usenet [..]"

Oh, FFS.

It's actually not true there were no complaints about the "female captain", but the rants were usually about how inconsistently and nonsensically her character was written. And in the later seasons where the show had devolved into Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan failing to conceal their mutual loathing despite having to have multiple "heartwarming" scenes together in each episode - the quip "Voyager? More like Her Voyage, if you know what I mean" was not unheard of.

[David]

here’s an epic Picard rant for you

That’s quite a rant. But not, I think, unwarranted. And Mr Chabon, like Mr Kurtzman, is shameless in his dishonesty.

It’s a variation of The Laurie Penny Manoeuvre:

“Whenever I say something really stupid, or obviously untrue, or intentionally offensive to half the human race, I get pushback and mockery. This can only be because the people mocking me hate all women, and minorities, and the disabled. Because I, being glorious, am the embodiment of womanhood, of progress, and of all human virtue.”

I paraphrase, of course, but only a little.

[David]

Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan failing to conceal their mutual loathing

And so, we had a totes-progressive and totes-empowered female captain, played by a Hillary-hugging actress who famously had on-set meltdowns about the arrival of a younger, prettier cast member. A rivalry that lasted years, resulting in a notoriously awful work experience for everyone else, with Mulgrew issuing regular demands that Ryan be fired – basically, for being prettier and attracting more press interest - along with endless petty behaviour. Say, deliberately disrupting Ryan’s lighting and makeup checks - and issuing openly spiteful conditions of her presence on set. As when demanding that she, the younger, prettier actress, not be allowed to use the bathroom during the working day.

As a supposedly inspirational model of women in positions of authority, a microcosm of feminism, it was almost funny.

[NateWhilk]

Twitching meat.

Great comment at reddit: "Beef (extra) jerky".

[Darleen]

Catchy tune.

[NateWhilk]

George’s besties.

"Extinction Rebellion" account @xr_east taken down. archive.org snagged a copy.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200325131811/https:/twitter.com/KoreshWas/status/1242776800150933504

The text from the @xr_east tweet is as follows: "Earth is healing. The air and water is [sic] clearing. Corona is the cure. Humans are the disease!"

"Legitimate" Extinction Rebellion disclaimers.
https://twitter.com/search?q=%40xr_east%20disease&src=typeahead_click

[David]

“Extinction Rebellion” account @xr_east taken down. archive.org snagged a copy.

Thanks for that. Link updated.

[pst314]

Dude, it's Tim Hortons coffee, just save yourself some time and drink the disinfectant.

? Canadians kept saying Tim Hortons was the best.

[David]

Catchy tune.

Heh. My father-in-law has just WhatsApped that to me.

[hopp singg]

They do lots of things better than we do:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sju_4mcXGvk

[Steve E]

? Canadians kept saying Tim Hortons was the best.

Not all of us. Tim Hortons stopped being the best a long time ago. It's mediocre to terrible now. Even McDonald's makes a better cup of coffee.

As a side story, my uncle was an early supplier of flour to Tim Hortons. He was a baking food supplies salesman and was introduced to Tim by Pat Quinn one of Tim's future team mates on the Toronto Maple Leafs. My uncle grew up with the Quinn family in Hamilton. Pat was best man at my uncle's wedding. So my uncle got to meet a lot of the Leafs from that time period. I got to meet Tim Horton through my uncle shortly before Tim died in a horrible car accident. He was driving a De Tomaso Pantera at a high rate of speed while under the influence of alcohol.

My uncle was offered a chance to buy a small region of Tim Hortons franchises early on. He turned down the opportunity and instead bought a franchise in a restaurant chain called The Millionaire. His franchise went bust after about five years. Ironicaly the region of Tim Hortons franchises is worth millions today.

[pst314]

Tim Hortons stopped being the best a long time ago.

How long ago would that be? I wonder if it is before or after all the praise I heard.

[Steve E]

How long ago would that be?

They were pretty good up until the early 2000s. Until that time each location did its own baking on site by a qualified baker. So there was a much higher level of care and attention to detail. After that time, baking was done at a central locaton en masse and shipped to the franchises. Even their other food offerings today are just heated and served on site.

Of course, YMMV, and there are a lot of Canadians who still think Timmies is the best. I think that's more because they grew up believing that than because of their experience there.

[pst314]

They were pretty good up until the early 2000s.

That explains it. The songs of praise I heard were all back in the 80's and 90's.

[Darleen]

Titania McGrath on priorities.

[David]

Heh.

[David]

Also heh.

Via Julia.

[Ted S, Catskill Mtns, NY, USA]

Nate: It's not just Extinction Rebellion:

Economist Tomáš Sedláček: A positive look at the coronavirus crisis

“And now look! We have stopped and somehow it is possible. Not without a cost, but it is possible. The same applies for our economy which is sort of overconsumed and especially the environment. Remember what Greta Thunberg wanted. She wanted the economy to slow down, this must be her dream come true manifold when it comes to the economy. We have halted all unnecessary operations. We did not do it for the environment, but to save lives.”

[David]

It’s not just Extinction Rebellion

And so the livelihoods of countless people become “unnecessary operations.”

[WTP]

As this is a FE thread, hope I'm not going OT but as there are very highly educated people here who are much better at microbiology than myself, I would like to get an opinion from the doctors and such regarding this video. This come from a friend whose wife is a cardiologist who has been tangentially involved in fighting this thing in NYC. I highly recommend watching this, regardless.

https://youtu.be/cjUOpvmDE7k

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

...I would like to get an opinion from the doctors and such regarding this video.

Seeing as how the guy is a chiropractor, he was bound to go off the rails and that is the whole nutrition/microflora/etc bit. His epidemiology is off and out of date, his virology a bit simplified - they may mutate over a population, but a virus is neither alive nor dead, it is just a packet of DNA or RNA with no metabolic functions, it can't "become stronger" in any given individual sans mutation.

I don't care what disease you get, if you are debilitated, older, and/or sicker to start with it will be worse, with the possible exception of the old practice of using malaria to treat syphilis.

You can take all the vitamin C, or other water soluble vitamins, you want, and if your body doesn't need them, you will literally be pissing them away, there is no magic about selenium, zinc, (though essential) or vitamin E. Too much vitamin D can lead to toxic effects, selenium and zinc also. Excess vitamin E can lead to bleeding disorders.

The bottom line is, barring underlying condition, if you keep yourself in reasonable shape, eat a balanced diet and if you really want to, take any OTC multivitamin, you are good to hook.

Some fun facts about The Great Toilet Paper Apocalypse, seeing as how the US&A is now being touted as the "epicenter" of this mess, we in the trade tend to evaluate this sort of thing in terms of cases/population, in which case (NPI) mighty Switzerland* is the epicenter with over 160/100,000 people, followed closely by Italy at 154. The US comes in at 39/100,000 unless you take out NY metro, in which case it is less than Canada which is 19/100,000.

*(As of 1403Z today)

[David]

Decision-making tool of note.

[Sam Duncan]

“If I may, the example of history would be Ersatz Coffee, usually Chicory.”

Having grown up with it, my grandfather preferred chicory. This stuff, to be specific (I didn't know until just now that it was a local product). To be fair, it is actually a whole 4% real coffee.

[David]

a whole 4% real coffee.

[ Clutches coffee grinder, faints. ]

[WTP]

Thanks, Muldoon. I'm kinda disappointed both in myself for not checking out this guy's credentials, though he did throw a good number of caveats in there, and my source. I let my guard down because my source's wife is certified pediatric cardiologist with degrees from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Baylor University, and does some teaching at University of Florida College of Medicine. He told me that she had been called up by a colleague or was in NYC for some reason in regard to the virus breaking out there.

That said, I do feel the general idea of that video is significantly valid, especially in regard to stress factors and as you say, common sense nutrition. That vitamin C thing did raise an eyebrow as, as you say, over consumption of it is just waste. But then didn't Linus Pauling or Saulk or somebody kinda besmirch their reputation obsessing over it?

[Daniel Ream]

Even McDonald's makes a better cup of coffee.

Tim's changed their coffee supplier and McDonald's Canada went out and scooped them up. Current McDonald's coffee is the old Tim's coffee.

there are a lot of Canadians who still think Timmies is the best. I think that's more because they grew up believing that than because of their experience there.

Now do socialized medicine.

[Steve E]

Now do socialized medicine.

Canadians who believe in the institution of socialized medicine should be institutionalized. ;-)

[pst314]

[ Clutches coffee grinder, faints. ]

Quick! Pour him a reviving drink from any random bottle behind the bar!

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

But then didn't Linus Pauling...

Yep, Pauling, which goes to show that even brilliant people can be susceptible to oddball theories. The problem, of course, is the people who see this sort of thing and think "if one is good ten is better" and end up screwing themselves up not unlike the "chloroquine is chloroquine" people in Arizona.

[Fred the Fourth]

Farnsworth,

I seem to have read recently about Pauling and Vit.C that it was actually found useful in a certain range of cases, albeit using IV to get a large enough dose. I'm just gonna toss that in here, like a smoke grenade, and while all y'all are busy researching it (cuz ain't none of you heathens got anything better to do today) I'm gonna sneak off with the LAST jar of Hump Fat! Ha ha!

[TimT]

Chicory (or dandelion root) is nice. But tastes nothing like real coffee.

[JuliaM]

Tut, tut, 'Guardian'!

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/29/state-control-womens-bodies-covid-19-crisis

Should that be 'person's bodies'..?