Unknowable Bodies

Time for an open thread, I think. In which to share links and bicker.

Oh, and over on the shopping channel QVC, the conversation turns to higher matters. 

Comments

[Liz]

Oh, and over on the shopping channel QVC, the conversation turns to higher matters.

I only watch it for the science bits. :-)

[David]

I believe that’s QVC host Ms Shawn Killinger debating the finer points of astronomy with fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. Apparently, Ms Killinger is a “gifted over-analyser.”

[sH2]

"Exclusion"

https://twitter.com/Holbornlolz/status/1313751204976103424

[David]

“Exclusion”

We sailed past merely shameless some time ago. I’m not sure what to call where we are now.

[David]

“Exclusion”

Oh, and I noticed this gem from Ms Fatinikun:

“I wasn’t keen on the prospect of… joining a typical hikers’ group where there’d be nobody I could identify with.”

So, our super-woke hiker, all stunning and brave, on account of being black, says she can’t identify with people who aren’t brown-skinned. Call me old-fashioned, but we used to have a word for that.

[Sam]

That's no planet or star, it's a space station.

/f*cking kill me please

[asiaseen]

A 2018 study found 66% of US Blacks surveyed associated the outdoors with lynching, slavery and police brutality.

The outside is a dangerous place

[Sam]

Call me old-fashioned, but we used to have a word for that.

We did, and then we used it trillions of times for any and everything for decades until people realized it was essentially meaningless. I think there's a also word for that phenomenon. (Good thing we don't engage in such reckless behavior with important things like money, right?!?)

[David]

I think there’s also a word for that phenomenon.

Well, it’s strange to live at a time when so many high-profile companies and organisations are falling over themselves to publicly champion clearly racist sentiments - an obnoxious, whiny, ethno-narcissism. Provided, of course, the narcissists in question aren’t white. And they expect to be applauded for this.

[Sam]

Via Mr Worstall, Faceberg claims a theory has been militarized and therefore deserves censorship. Against the backdrop of the leading* contender for US President claiming a well-documented and self-admitted militarized organization is just an "idea", one is forgiven for thinking the Elder Gods are just f-cking with us at this point.

*I know, I know, but still...

[Steve E]

The outside is a dangerous place

The only place more dangerous is the womb.

[JuliaM]

’A 2018 study found 66% of US Blacks surveyed associated the outdoors with lynching, slavery and police brutality.’

Shouldn’t it have been picking cotton? Surely all that slavery stuff hasn’t gone out of fashion so soon?

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

The Twisted Sifter link also led me to this colorized and upscaled snowball fight from 1903.

The highlight was the bicyclist slowly pedaling through and getting absolutely slammed!

[David]

Just noticed that I’m one Instalanche away from 14,000,000 pageviews.

Hey, I’m just sayin’.

[David]

this colorized and upscaled snowball fight from 1903.

Heh. That was rather sweet.

[Darleen]

Just when you think you've reached peak cringe.

[ComputerLabRat]

Just when you think you've reached peak cringe.

...do I want to know what a Naked Ballot is???

[David]

Just when you think you’ve reached peak cringe.

If anyone’s getting aroused by that video, I’m fetching the hose.

[pst314]

Just when you think you’ve reached peak cringe.

Would it be unfair to call them whores?

[pst314]

Speaking of whores, this article claims that Amazon intends to put sex and nudity in its forthcoming version of The Lord of the Rings.

[ComputerLabRat]

Speaking of whores, this article claims that Amazon intends to put sex and nudity in its forthcoming version of The Lord of the Rings.

Can't be much worse than that horrid Kili Fili whatshisname dwarf/elf chick romance that got invented for The Hobbit trilogy. A friend took me to see the second or third Hobbit movie - I forget. Have the book, love the book, not sure what the heck I was watching, but it only vaguely resembled The Hobbit. It got so bad I was rooting for Kili/Fili whatshisname to just die already, and I must have cheered a bit too loudly when the end came because she smacked me a good one on the arm.

Wasn't game of thrones just lord of the rings with sex and nudity, minus the camaraderie and grand overarching quest? Maybe they are trying to fill the void that show left.

[David]

this article claims that Amazon intends to put sex and nudity in its forthcoming version of The Lord of the Rings.

If anyone’s getting aroused by the prospect of naked goblins, I’m fetching the hose.

There are goblins, aren’t there? I forget.

[Kili Watch]

The outside is a dangerous place

https://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2017/04/imagine-the-picnics.html

[a different james]

Have the book, love the book, not sure what the heck I was watching,a

It was like watching a computer game being played on Xbox. Hours of superfluous computer-generated tedious action and fight sequences.

[Angus]

cringe

I don’t want to be too nasty, but Mr Ruffulo’s best look is not shirtless.

[Hal]

Fat Bear Week has a new winner . . .

[Sam Duncan]

“Just when you think you've reached peak cringe.”

It's now twenty years since I came to the conclusion that the Democrats genuinely believe that their supporters are a bunch of idiots. Remember Gore's excuse for refusing to concede in Florida? Unclear ballots were more likely to be his. In other words, people who were likely to vote for him were, by definition, too dumb to know how.

Since then, I've seen a similar phenomenon among other parties of the broad Left, but the American Democrats are by far the most blatant about it. As David says, we passed “shameless” years ago.

[WTP]

Western civilization needs to move away from the smart/dumb axis and back to its traditional axis of good/evil. Been in touch with many high school classmates lately and I gotta say, the dumb but honest ones are far more endearing than most of the "smart" ones, be the latter good or evil. Yes, dumb people can be frustrating to deal with, especially if you are trying to get something done. But at the very least you can count on them to do the right thing once it is (sloooowly) explained to them. Granted, it takes some extra effort but I think part of that effort is necessary because, being somewhat dumb, the honest ones at the very least understand that in order to survive they need to adhere to some sense of reality. 'Smart' people can build castles in the air until they exhaust all available resources. As Tomas Sowell pointed out, dumb people can only do limited damage. To really screw things up, you need a lot of 'smart' people.

[Lady Cutekitten of Lolcat]

“People who vote for me are too dumb to know how:”. possibly the most honest, or least dishonest, thing a politician ever said, or at least implied.

The Naked Goblins would be a good band name. I missed the Hobbit movie but heard it was pretty bad, too much screen time taken up with elf-grrrrl power.

[Richard Cranium]

WTP, my dad used to claim that the optimal IQ was around 90. Much lower than that, you aren't intelligent enough to figure out any solutions to your problem; much higher than that, you'll take time evaluating the several solutions that you figured out to find the optimal one. He claimed that the 90 IQ folks could normally figure out one solution and since that was it, they would move immediately to implementation.

[asiaseen]

The Lord of the Rings

At least it's an appropriate title for a sex movie

[David]

At least it’s an appropriate title for a sex movie

[ Rings tiny silver bell, henchlesbians appear. ]

[Zionist Overlord #73]

@WTP

That sounds really wise, but I'm not sure I understood. Could you explain again, but more slowly?

[David]

Lest ye fret, tomorrow’s Ephemera has been compiled and should materialise just after midnight.

[TDK]

@WTP
"Western civilization needs to move away from the smart/dumb axis and back to its traditional axis of good/evil."

We are already in "anyone who votes Conservative/Republican is evil/fascist" territory. Hell, Democrats who refuse kowtow to Antifa and raise their fist, are evil. The Lincoln project tells us that half the Republicans think the other half of the Republicans are evil.

Smart/dumb doesn't actually mean clever or stupid. Being sceptical and challenging accepted shibboleths used to be expected of smart people. Now university has shifted towards a madrassa where the students memorise received wisdom. The measure of dumbness is reduced to how likely you are to vote against received wisdom.

As George Orwell said: “There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.”

[Deus Vulture]

Re: the Black backpacker and other POC in the wild ...

I live near to and sometimes work in the most popular US national park, the Great Smoky Mountains. This time of year I am busy photographing marriage proposals since the crisp air and falling leaves and hyperphagic bears bring out the romance in all. I can assure you, I see remarkable diversity on the trails. I guess these are Black people, Brown people, Asian people, and Desi people who just ... go for a hike. Enjoy nature. Have a good time. And just don’t bring ideology into the mix. It is amazing what a reporter with a looming deadline “thinks” is the reality out there.

[John]

Being a strict Tolkien originalist while generally loving Jackson’s LOTR I was disappointed at the substitution of Arwen for the elf-lord Glorfindel (male - they all had slightly dodgy names) when saving Frodo from the ringwraiths so it came as no surprise that she she coyly showed up to defend Gondor. Small things I know but so unnecessary other than in the context of an all-encompassing inability to leave well alone.

The insertion of another female action-figure into The Hobbit was similarly pointless other than in the rush towards inclusivity.

[asiaseen]

Lest ye fret, tomorrow’s Ephemera has been compiled and should materialise just after midnight.

But it's only 10 minutes since you posted the last one - or am I getting old? Tempus fugit

[David]

or am I getting old?

[ Peers over spectacles. ]

[WTP]

@TDK
I get that but I think Dick Head's father nailed it. And I say this as someone who takes time evaluating multiple solutions to a problem. And yes, what Orwell said. I think the issue with "anyone who votes Conservative/Republican is evil/fascist" etc. territory is that it takes a considerable amount of 'smart' to blur the good/evil line. And even more so for the NeverTrumpers types to convince themselves that Clinton was, and even more absurdly Biden is, the lesser of the two evils. But again, what Orwell said.

[asiaseen]

[ Peers over spectacles. ]

And they aren't as good as they were in the old days.

[Sam Duncan]

“I missed the Hobbit movie but heard it was pretty bad, too much screen time taken up with elf-grrrrl power.”

For me, the problem, even before I watched any of it, was that it wasn't “the” Hobbit movie at all. It was three of them. To my mind, the Hobbit is the better book for its concision, and they threw that out of the window in search of a lucrative blockbuster trilogy.

I looked it up last time it was on TV: the third one was based on, at a generous reading, the last 20 pages of the book. I make that over seven minutes per page. And it's named after an event - the Battle of Five Armies (they even added an extra “the”) - that's over in six.

[Governor Squid]

A 2018 study found 66% of US Blacks surveyed associated the outdoors with lynching, slavery and police brutality.

As one who designs and implements surveys for a living, I felt compelled to dig into the 2018 study to find out more about the survey organization, their methodology, and other interesting observations and conclusions arising from the study. Turns out that this study was performed by a graduate student as part of his thesis for his Master's in Health, Exercise and Sport Sciences at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA.

The study consisted of 12 interviews with black Millennials recruited from local community organizers and social justice groups. Now I'm no professional journalist, but I can't help but think that characterizing "Eight out of twelve young black activists interviewed by a grad student in Stockton" as "a 2018 study" might be a little...let's say disingenuous. I'm not certain that the conclusions drawn from "the 2018 study" are representative of the U.S. population, or blacks, or young blacks, or really anything at all, and its inclusion as an authoritative source makes me question the professionalism of the editorial staff.

To their credit, the article linked directly to the study, making it easy for me to follow up. But I can't help wondering how many others bothered to click on the link and read the section on sampling technique. I can't help but suspect that the journal's opinion of its readers is such that they aren't worried about including links to source materials, knowing that it's unlikely that these links will bring them any pushback. But perhaps that's just me being uncharitable.

[David]

The study consisted of 12 interviews with black Millennials recruited from local community organizers and social justice groups.

Somewhat related, the second item here.

[Daniel Ream]

Just when you think you’ve reached peak cringe.

Actors aren't deeply insecure exhibitionists, noOOOooOoOoo..

sex and nudity in its forthcoming version of The Lord of the Rings.

I used to have a link to negative contemporary reviews of Lord of the Rings, just for amusement's sake, and one of the negative opinions was that the book was sexless. No carnality, no romance, hardly any women.

It was like watching a computer game being played on Xbox.

Shadow of Mordor/Shadow of War have a vastly better story and do more interesting things with the lore. And you get to mind control orcs into fighting each other.

the substitution of Arwen for the elf-lord Glorfindel [...] Small things I know but so unnecessary

There may be another reason. To be eligible for a Best Screenplay Oscar rather than merely Best Adaptation, at a bare minimum you have to introduce one new character with at least three lines of dialogue (I'm not making this up, those are the actual rules). This is why so many book-to-film adaptations have an important-seeming character who shows up, says a couple of bits and then vanishes from the rest of the movie.

my dad used to claim that the optimal IQ was around 90

One of the most fascinating questions I've ever been asked in a job interview was "would you rather manage a team that has to be babysat and handheld constantly, but will get things right 100% of the time - or a team of brilliant people who will get everything right by themselves 90% of the time, but 10% of the time they'll f*ck things up massively?" It's in the same vein, I feel.

[Daniel Ream]

its inclusion as an authoritative source

I have been known to perplex people by giving out copies of How To Lie With Statistics as stocking stuffers.

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

Have the book, love the book, not sure what the heck I was watching"

IIRR, Peter Jackson decided to LOTR-ize the Hobbit movie. Whether he did because of producers, or because he felt like it, it shows a remarkable "flexibility" of judgment, considering his professions of love for the books, that doesn't look good on him. Of course, three long movies meant a huge boost to his company and New Zealand's economy, despite the carping he endured for it.

OTOH, he did a marvelous job with the WWI documentary, so there's that.

[Baceseras]

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2019/12/the-laughable-lust-for-seriousness/

I've been meaning to share this essay in case anyone missed it. No reason but that I like it.

[Angus]

The most interesting part of a sexy LOTR will be how they play the female dwarves. As Pratchet has them (almost identical to the males) or as short sexy Hollywood women. I might be thinking too much about this topic, I’ll show myself to the cold showers.

[Pooklord]

That Sarah Silverman.
Huh.
Excuse me.

[Sam Duncan]

“No reason but that I like it.”

It makes an important point. I remember PJ O'Rourke writing along similar lines a few years back. We take seriousness far too seriously.

[Randy]

These are Biden voters.