Friday Ephemera

Motoring scenes. || Must go faster. || Assorted foxes. || Jolly jellies. || Today’s word is plausible. || Parenting choice of note. || Remember, loyal citizens, always respect the media. || Runaway duck. || Everything is racist. || Sshh. I think I hear something in the woods. || Modern woes. || So woke, a thread. (h/t, Tim) || A little one. || Sowell on Marx. || One million begonias. || He does this better than you. || How to tie your shoes, with lots of bonus maths. || Nommy-nommy-nom. || Street transaction of note. || And finally, fragrantly, “Offerings are made to the fart god.”

Comments

[randian]

Mathologer for the win.

[Hal]

The olden days: We had enough sweaters.

[Mark]

We had enough sweaters.

Band name.

[Hal]

Florida Woman links the devil, 5G, Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton, "the pedophiles" and the deep state.

---Surely she could have also fit in kumquats, tribbles,
custard recipes, and Lampchop---the puppet---, but apparently she ran out of time.

---I tend to ignore videos, so much faster to skim through text, but yes, when checking this one for the details, she does hit every item.

[Hal]

"We had enough sweaters."

Band name.

Um . . . . granting objections, that strikes me as more an album title.

Albeit The Olden Days would be the band name.

[BlokeInAShed]

Is it possible that just about anything could be a band name ?
(e.g. "Is It Possible", "That", "Just About Anything", "Could Be", "A" and "Band Name")

[JuliaM]

"Parenting choice of note"

What's the problem, they are both wearing hunting orange!

[Joan]

Sshh. I think I hear something in the woods.

Plot twist!

[Russtovich]

Offerings are made to the fart god.

This partly explains where eproctophilia came from. :)

[David]

Morning, all.

Style tip: You just can’t be fashionable without some neurotically pretentious self-flagellation.

The woke rewards of nakedly racist spite. One might almost call it privilege.

And for those who missed it yesterday, via Connor: Who knew sociopathy involved so much whining?

[Hal]

Is it possible that just about anything could be a band name ?

No Reply could be a band name.

No Reply could be an album title.

No Reply is indeed a song title.

Anthony Newley could be a band name, and could be an album title.

Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? would definitely be an album title rather than a band name.

[Clam]

always respect the media.

They're activists not journalists.

[David]

They’re activists not journalists.

Well, to not only be wrong, but to morally and factually invert the situation being illustrated. Quite a feat, really.

[Hal]

Brave Reg hack spends a week eating airline food grounded by coronavirus crash

[Judi Evans]

I think the astute followers of this conversation will have noticed a common theme offered in defence of those alleged to have committed horrible crimes - I have 'mental health issues' -(we all have; sweetie, it's called 'Life') - I was an abused child -(who can disprove this? And what does 'abused mean in this context? Denied a TV programme?, forbidden a (insert demand here)?) -I am an oppressed minority (pick your theme).

My point is not to denigrate any people who have genuinely suffered those degradations, though I am sure will be abused for allegedly doing so, but to attempt to highlight the lack of personal responsibility and failure to understand a history, that what went before, though unacceptable in today's world, was considered normal in its day. Eradicating monuments, desecrating statues, means, to me, that we fail to learn from the past and therefore cannot improve and keep those previous (egregious if you like) actions as examples of what we should not do in the future.

[a different james]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8461387/Dont-throw-away.html

Health Secretary Matt Hancock threatens to CLOSE beaches and re-lockdown local areas after 'major incident' is declared in Bournemouth, thousands of Liverpool fans celebrate title win and police come under attack from revellers for second night

Decisive words on the part of the Minister and police.

I wonder why the crowds felt they were under no real moral obligation not to congregate

I wonder why the "revellers" felt no fears about chasing the police away.

And I wonder why, in this case, the Minister and police even criticised the crowds and, in Dorset at least, tried to disperse them?

It's a mystery- no doubt about it

[Mags]

Motoring scenes.

Good merging. :-)

[David]

Good merging. :-)

A year or so ago, the ‘Half and I were driving through the grounds of Chatsworth House when the entire deer population, numbering four or five hundred, decided to amble, in single file, from one side of the park to the other, which entailed crossing the road right in front of us. It was quite a sight and it wasn’t obvious what had prompted this mass relocation. I think it was one of the better traffic hold-ups I’ve been in.

Not, I grant you, as unnerving as a migration of hefty bison, but still.

[David]

"We were skipping maybe two meals a day"

[David]

“We were skipping maybe two meals a day”

The choice of photo isn’t helping to elicit great sympathy, I fear. I say this as someone who, despite being svelte and gazelle-like, also eats two meals a day. As opposed to six, or whatever number would be considered ideal by the ladies in question.

[Jonathan]

Motoring scenes.

That Big Boi at 00:50: "I'm not stampeding, I'm just going for a stroll!"

[Jonathan]

Remember, loyal citizens, always respect the media.

" I was radicalised by reality your Honor."

[Karl]

“We were skipping maybe two meals a day”

Elevenses and Eleven-Fifteenses?

[David]

[ Nibbles on corner of a chicken salad sandwich. ]

[Jonathan]

Media meets and uncomfortable Truth

[David]

Media meets an uncomfortable truth

“We’re going to have to leave it there…”

[Tom]

Media meets and uncomfortable Truth

It really is a cause for despair. Adam Boulton, say what you will about him - and God knows I do, isn't a stupid man but he's able to completely ignore reality.

You can, in an advanced society, ignore reality for quite some time but it will eventually bite you on the arse. I wouldn't mind so much but the the people in charge seem to be ignoring reality in ever larger doses recently and the arses that are going to be bitten don't belong to them.

I'm sure there's an eproctophilia (upthread) joke in there somewhere but as it's nearing lunchtime I'm not going to look for it.

[David]

Of course the way to dissipate any remaining bad blood [over historical racism, sexism, etc] would be to visibly and consistently strive to appoint people to positions based on their merit, confident that in the course of time people of ability will rise to the positions which they deserve. But what would be the most divisive way in which to go about trying to address such inequalities? Well, that would be to very visibly and obviously create and institute a mirror version of the old system: to attempt to carve out special privileges for people who look like those who suffered discrimination in the past, and to treat with a special disdain and contempt the people who look like they might have once benefited from discrimination…

Cambridge University has carved out a racism-allowance for Gopal where she can act in a manner in which others would not. She is literally privileged… Like all really successful twenty-first-century privilege-wielders, Gopal knows how to play the game. You pretend that you are in a position of weakness and vulnerability, when you are actually in a position of power. You present yourself as a victim as soon as people call you out as an aggressor. And you pretend to be the offended party after going out of your way to cause maximum offence yourself.

Douglas Murray on the malevolent goblin Priyamvada Gopal.

[WTP]

You can, in an advanced society, ignore reality for quite some time but it will eventually bite you on the arse.

Again, Gods of the Copybook Headings. It's why skipping maybe two meals a day is still somehow making you fat. Was waiting for our host to point out the heavy lifting being done by the word 'maybe'. Though I suspect it came too close to being a lame quasi-ironic pun thingy, so good call there.

[pst314]

It really is a cause for despair. Adam Boulton, say what you will about him - and God knows I do, isn't a stupid man but he's able to completely ignore reality.

A psychotherapist--Jordan Peterson, I think--once said in an interview that it can be much more difficult to help highly intelligent and educated people because they can cleverly find reasons to justify and excuse everything that they say and do.

[Min]

the malevolent goblin Priyamvada Gopal.

lol

[Steve E]

You just can’t be fashionable...

Thomas Sowell has a particularly apt comment on the same thread.

[Steve E]

..without some neurotically pretentious self-flagellation.

If someone wants to wear the hair shirt, that's up to them; I just don't accept it as part of a mandatory uniform.

[Steve E]

The woke rewards...

And I thought I made it clear when I said that requires a trigger warning. I lost a perfectly good part of my breakfast clicking that link.

[David]

lol

Well, I don’t feel I’ve wronged her, the spiteful, racist, lying cow. Thing is, such creatures have always existed and always will. And until quite recently, there was a non-trivial chance that such people might find themselves being directed to the fact that they’re a nasty piece of work. But now we have an elite culture, not least in academia, in which even overtly and gratuitously obnoxious behaviour, indulged in habitually and recreationally, won’t be censured or called out, and will even be rewarded, provided the person in question is sufficiently brown or supposedly marginalised.

Unilateral immunity from normal social consequences might tempt the best of us. Needless to say, Dr Gopal is not the best of us.

[Squires]

You just can’t be fashionable without some neurotically pretentious self-flagellation.

See this response:
https://mobile.twitter.com/michaelmantzmd/status/1276372779265167360

See also: the dhimmi mentality.

See also: the unstable backgrounds of so many (usually female) Westerners who are successfully groomed into converting to Islam.

See also this psychopath:
https://www.thecut.com/2020/02/larry-ray-sarah-lawrence-students.html

[Hal]

I lost a perfectly good part of my breakfast clicking that link.

No refunds. Credit note only.

[Jonathan]

You can, in an advanced society, ignore reality for quite some time but it will eventually bite you on the arse.

As Adam Smith said: " There's a great deal of ruin in a nation."

[Governor Squid]

I've gotten a bit short with friends who've trotted out the "400 years of privilege/slavery" nonsense. Up until the 1880s, my people were dirt farmers in Silesia. When they weren't scraping sustenance out of the earth, they were dying of the plague or getting conscripted to fight against the Poles or the Prussians or the Austrians or the French or whomever decided they wanted control of the upper Oder valley that decade. Some privilege.

[Darleen]

The Red Guard is holding sway, Jonathan Chait spends a lot of words exposing them here

https://web.archive.org/web/20200625015531/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/white-fragility-racism-racism-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html">https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/white-fragility-racism-racism-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html">https://web.archive.org/web/20200625015531/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/white-fragility-racism-racism-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html

in a group of ostensible data analysts...and yet ends the reporting of the beheadings and struggles sessions thusly

It would be inaccurate to take the overall tenor of this discussion as representative of the views of progressive data analysts in the group. Indeed, the opposite seems to be true. Seeing one of their peers fired from his job and then banished from their professional network after being accused of racism, and then other members similarly accused merely for questioning the fairness of this response, surely dissuaded many people who disagreed from speaking up.

“Reasonable people are not commenting, and the reasonable people are afraid for their jobs,” one member told me, adding that several peers had sent private messages objecting to Shor’s mistreatment that they felt afraid to share with the list.

Elite institutions like “Progressphiles” deserve credit for attempting to grapple with the crisis of institutional racism, a task many institutions have not even bothered to undertake. Simple color blindness is not enough to make women and people of color feel welcome and fully equal in spaces in which few of them have been admitted. These institutions need to develop norms of conduct that allow underrepresented groups to feel truly equal while accounting for human complexity and permitting people to express themselves in natural language rather than academic jargon.

The protocols they are using now do not work. Liberals must find better ones.

Really? REALLY??

[Darleen]

Oh crap -- bobbled the link -- NYMag is behind a paywall but I could get to the article here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20200625015531/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/white-fragility-racism-racism-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html">https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/white-fragility-racism-racism-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html">https://web.archive.org/web/20200625015531/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/white-fragility-racism-racism-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html

[David]

I’ve gotten a bit short with friends who’ve trotted out the “400 years of privilege/slavery” nonsense.

Choosing to be steeped in tribal grievance – which very often means pretentious, vicarious grievance, invoking strangers long dead - is not a healthy way to live. It doesn’t seem likely to result in a happy life. Or a personality that isn’t repellent and insufferable.

[David]

[ Peers over spectacles at Darleen. ]

[Darleen]

ARGH ... WTH??? The preview version did NOT look like that!!

Here's the original link

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/white-fragility-racism-racism-progressive-progressphiles-david-shor.html

if you can't read it, go to web.archive.org, plug it in and read the article.

SHEESH

[David]

[ Slides tall gin and tonic along bar. ]

You look like you could use it.

[Squires]

Really? REALLY??

Havel’s greengrocers:

https://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/165havel.html?fbclid=IwAR1_2x1jgiiJ0XZv_CbwmcFkhbM2uloAzpZEwcp94Jex4D54IITGhBxK6Co

[Darleen]

Slides tall gin and tonic along bar.

Thanks, barkeep. [checks purse ... pleasantly surprised]

Here you go ... cha-ching ... let this help catch up on my bartab.

[David]

Here you go ... cha-ching ... let this help catch up on my bartab.

Bless you, madam. May hot weather result in no more ironing than usual.

[David]

Heh.

[Miles]

Sowell on Marx.

Thanks for that, David. A very informative essay.

[David]

A very informative essay.

Yes, it appears in The Thomas Sowell Reader.

It isn’t an enormous stretch to think of much of Marx’s output as an elaborate attempt to rationalise his own rather awful personality – the narcissism, selfishness and arrested adolescence; the pathological irresponsibility; the endless mooching. To say nothing of his openly sadistic, indeed class-genocidal, fantasies. That Marxism has subsequently attracted so many narcissists and sociopaths is hardly surprising. Though it’s sort-of funny just how precisely Marx’s own character traits anticipate those of countless middle-class lefties in the many decades since.

See also the chapter on Marx in Paul Johnson’s Intellectuals, which is, I think, better; certainly even more damning.

[ Added: ]

Both of which are available via the Amazon links, top right.

[pst314]

Is New York Democrat Jerry Nadler our own Hal 9000? Jerry Nadler Says Antifa Is Imaginary.

[pst314]

See also the chapter on Marx in Paul Johnson’s Intellectuals

Yes, an excellent book. Very much worth reading.

[Squires]

It isn’t an enormous stretch to think of much of Marx’s output as an elaborate attempt to rationalise his own rather awful personality [...] That Marxism has subsequently attracted so many narcissists and sociopaths is hardly surprising.

See also:

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Muhammad-Psychobiography-Allahs-prophet/dp/0980994802/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=understanding+muhammad&qid=1593200808&sprefix=understanding+muh&sr=8-3

[sH2]

Though it’s sort-of funny just how precisely Marx’s own character traits anticipate those of countless middle-class lefties in the many decades since.

That.

[Darleen]

I'm wondering what a "holistic, health-based" approach to armed robbery or rape looks like.

[Sam Duncan]

“I'm wondering what a "holistic, health-based" approach to armed robbery or rape looks like.”

What a difference a week makes.

[Steve E]

I'm wondering what a "holistic, health-based" approach to armed robbery or rape looks like.

I'm sure it won't be pretty. They say:

"Under the plan, "licensed police officers" would work for the Division of Law Enforcement Services, which would be part of the Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention."

Although approaches toward using the wrong pronoun or refusing to toe the BLM/Antifa line will probably lead to a more hands on approach.

This is about who controls the police. Ultimately, when control ends up in the wrong hands "Community" policing becomes the NKVD, the Stasi, or the SS.

[pst314]

I'm wondering what a "holistic, health-based" approach to armed robbery or rape looks like.

We've seen that before 100 years ago: Robbers and rapists are victims of capitalist oppression, while those who quietly disagree with Marxists are enemies of the people.

[pst314]

Ultimately, when control ends up in the wrong hands "Community" policing becomes the NKVD, the Stasi, or the SS.

Minneapolis liberals voted for this, and they deserve to get it good and hard.

[Squires]

Reality check:

https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/06/harlem-black-residents-push-back-against-abolishing-the-police/

[Captain Nemo]

Minneapolis liberals voted for this, and they deserve to get it good and hard.

Indeed. They're about to learn why Oscar Wilde said: "There are two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." Oh well.

[Steve E]

...which would be part of the Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention."

I meant to add that we've seen the definition of "violence" stretched beyond all credibility, so disagreeing with Marxists definitely equates to "violence" today

[Darleen]

Is there such a word as self-defenestration?

[Hal]

A musical interlude.

'K, it's three entire ~58 minute chunks, but one can still fit 'em in between something . . . .

[JuliaM]

Oh, the world is getting very dark. Here, have a palate cleanser:

http://twitter.com/backt0nature/status/1276421335980400640

[David]

A contrast in temperaments.

It does, I think, work on a symbolic level, a shorthand for the broader phenomenon. Sort of, “How dare you disagree! I should just get my way! I shouldn’t have to know things!”

Again, it does rather suggest a profound failure of parenting.

[Jonathan]

It isn’t an enormous stretch to think of much of Marx’s output as an elaborate attempt to rationalise his own rather awful personality

See also Sigmund Freud

[Horace Dunn]

Again, it does rather suggest a profound failure of parenting.

Quite possibly. Or she might have had perfectly sensible parents but then attended university where she told that she is the victim of a thousand years of violence and oppression by white people and therefore should be very very angry. And so she became very very angry and found that the chattering classes cheered her on, and it felt good.

[Jonathan]

Me, reading This Twitter thread

[David]

Quite possibly. Or…

That too. It does matter who gets to educate your children.

[Sam Duncan]

“Simple color blindness is not enough to make women and people of color feel welcome and fully equal in spaces in which few of them have been admitted.”

Yeah, that's a handy excuse, isn't it? War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Colourblindness is Racism.

None of this makes one jot of sense until you understand that certain groups are actively trying to reopen racial divides in the west in order to weaken us.

“This is about who controls the police. Ultimately, when control ends up in the wrong hands "Community" policing becomes the NKVD, the Stasi, or the SS.”

In the Soviet case, that's precisely what happened:

The name [Militsya] originates from a Provisional Government decree dated April 17, 1917, and from early Soviet history, when both the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks intended to associate their new law enforcement authority with the self-organisation of the people and to distinguish it from the czarist police. The militsiya was reaffirmed on October 28 (November 10, according to the new style dating), 1917 under the official name of the Workers' and Peasants' Militsiya, in further contrast to what the Bolsheviks called the "bourgeois class protecting" police. Eventually, it was replaced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs

... i.e., the MVD, later to become the NKVD.

“Minneapolis liberals voted for this, and they deserve to get it good and hard.”

Note that in Russia it was the pre-revolutionary Provisional Government which started the ball rolling. Whether through sympathy with the Bolsheviks or in an attempt to appease them I don't know, but Lenin inherited the Militsya/MVD; he didn't have to create it.

Oh, and let's not forget, returning to that last point, that the Russian revolution was fomented by Germany to get the Russians out of WWI.

“Is there such a word as self-defenestration?”

The thread is priceless. “Good luck finding the talking dog”.

“A contrast in temperaments.”

“Waaaaah! It's so unfair! I hate you! Uuuuurgh!”

[David]

Simple color blindness is not enough

The alternatives are well known and not generally considered attractive. Not being overly interested in a person’s race is, in the real world, as good as it gets. All other directions are downhill.

[David]

One more time. Always respect the media.

Via Damian.

[[+]]

One more time. Always respect the media.

'Today's word is gaslighting'...

[Darleen]

Not being overly interested in a person’s race is, in the real world, as good as it gets.

The usual whine that "color-blindness" is Evil Racism(tm) is the claim that "but I don't see your race, I see you" is all about "race" in that statement, not the "you".

Of course I *see* the "race" of someone I meet for the first time. I'm introduced to someone new at an office meeting, I'm told their name "A" and I see their sex, height, hair color, eye color, clothing - all quick sketch notes for I can then identify "A" and remember them at the next meeting or in the office. But if I start spending more time with this person - working on a project together, or becoming friends - ALL those characteristics fade into the background as "A" becomes a familiar part of my life and I learn all the other things that make "A" a unique individual with unique likes/dislikes, interests, skills and life experiences.

Leftism is dedicated to wiping out those relationships - from destruction of the family to dictating who/where/how is acceptable socialization.

[Squires]

Leftism is dedicated to wiping out those relationships - from destruction of the family to dictating who/where/how is acceptable socialization.

The word is atomization; break down all human bonds not in service to the ideology and raise in their place those that serve to maintain loyalty to the ideology and its authors. Divide the followers from everything that might give them succor outside of the ideology so that they will have it alone to cling to. Promise righteousness, praise, and earthly rewards in exchange for serving the ideology in ways that will further alienate the followers from all those outside the fold, blood relatives included.

Muhammad did this in 7th century Arabia. Marxists have been sowing it for a century. The “woke” of today are so divided from everything that many are willing to transform themselves into grotesque, neon-haired psuedo-hermaphrodites in order to more deeply “belong” in the Pandemonium of Intersectionality. And if that leaves such individuals so unattractive that no one will sleep with them unless it is to prove their own ideological purity, how does the ideology lose?

[WTP]

Praise Zeus. I was getting angst.

[Hal]

From the comments in /.:

I always wanted to know what it was like to live during the time of the Civil War, the Spanish Flu, Great Depression, Civil Rights Movement, Watergate, and the Dust Bowl. Just not all at once though.

[Hal]

Hmmm. Interesting tech commentary:

Journalist's Phone Hacked: All He Had To Do Was Visit a Website. Any Website.

[Felicity]

There is also a locust plague...

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/14/876002404/locusts-are-a-plague-of-biblical-scope-in-2020-why-and-what-are-they-exactly

[Hal]

There is also a locust plague...

Details, details . . . .

My conspiracy theory is that time travel IS real & someone keeps trying to fix 2020 by changing something but every time they do, they unwittingly make it worse. How else do you explain the sudden disappearance of murder hornets? They saved us from those but at what cost?!?!

[Hal]

This week in pictures

Oh, don't worry, she's only a thousand feet up in the air . . .

[Baceseras]

"Is It Possible", "That", "Just About Anything", "Could Be", "A" and "Band Name"

"Everything's A Song Cue"
https://www.gocomics.com/culdesac/2010/04/26

[Sam Duncan]

“Interesting tech commentary:”

I like this comment down the thread: “That's a clear violation of GDPR. They need to post a consent popup before continuing with an injection attack. Infiltration without consent is illegal, make sure your company is not doing it.”

[David]

Remember, she’s an educator.

[Sam Duncan]

“Remember, she’s an educator.”

Andrew Doyle (the guy who writes Titania McGrath) must be sobbing into his beer. We've all been saying for years that the world has gone beyond parody, but seriously... Cambridge University, which refused to defend Jordan Peterson remember, actually promoted this headcase.

[Captain Nemo]

Cambridge University, which refused to defend Jordan Peterson remember, actually promoted this headcase.

They also refused to defend Noah Carl when he had his issues with the outrage mob, and in fact dismissed him from his research post. The cynic in me can't help wondering if not defending those two gentlemen was a deliberate ploy by Cambridge University precisely for this reason. This way, Cambridge can say "Look, we took on board what you guys said about freedom of speech the last time this happened, so why aren't you happy?" In a perverted way, I'm glad they are defending her on freedom of speech grounds, even if the speech in question is abominable. I'd just like them to extend the same courtesy to those academics who aren't passengers on the woke train. But I suspect that that's too much to hope for.

[NateWhilk]

How to tie your shoes, with lots of bonus maths

My favorite mathologer video is this one, which introduces a new way to make a bicycle with non-circular wheels: it obviates the need for hinged suspension of the wheels and reduces friction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eQaF6OmWKw