Friday Ephemera

Bean glove. You heard me. || It’s a car, it’s a helicopter. (h/t, Things) || How to open a drawer. || How to peel potatoes. || The portable kitchen you’ve always wanted. || Pride. || “Alternatives to policing.” || More progressive motherhood. || The thrill of midwifery. || Monster detected. || Accelerated herding. || Maybe help will come. || Inside the Statue of Liberty. || Narrow city. || Vice of note. || Causality questioned. || Coffee Bar, 1959: “A square in the wrong hole is just not dug, even by the jukebox.” || Yes, there will be a test. || Not entirely unrelated. || Always ensure the tank is big enough. || And the robots will dance to K-pop. || The thrill of pencils. || Puzzling. || And finally, then they’ll pay. Then they’ll all pay.

Comments

[pst314]

They're here! They're here!

[Gord]

Maybe help will come

About suffering they were never wrong, the Old Masters... - ah well, make that almost never wrong.

Coffee bar, 1959

Two cappuccini, yes I suppose that's correct.

[Steve E]

And the robots will dance to K-pop.

I actually enjoyed that. Is that so wrong?

[Darleen]

I guess things like finding a cure for Alzheimer's is just not that important anymore.

The National Institutes of Health supports a multidisciplinary neuroscience initiative to expand understanding of the brain. Research applications include treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism and depression. On June 10, NIH director Francis Collins announced a new requirement for participating in the brain initiative. Neurologists, molecular biologists and nanophysicists seeking NIH funding must now submit a plan showing how they will “enhance diverse perspectives” throughout their research. Scores on the “plan for enhancing diverse perspectives” will inform funding decisions. (snip)

Each “plan for enhancing diverse perspectives” must show how the principal investigator will “empower” individuals from groups “traditionally underrepresented” in biomedical research, such as blacks, the disabled, women and the poor. Institutions are also covered by the diversity mandate. Researchers working on an NIH neuroscience grant should be drawn from institutions that are traditionally underrepresented in biomedical research, including “community-based” organizations.

[Darleen]

Then they’ll all pay.

Oops

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

The thrill of pencils.

More pencil thrills.

[pst314]

More pencil thrills.

My mother would have loved to see that.

[Connor]

Bean glove.

I have questions.

[David]

Morning, all.

I have questions.

My first thought was that maybe it has some improvised medical purpose. Still working on a second thought.

[JuliaM]

"It’s a car, it’s a helicopter. (h/t, Things) "

It's also quite a thing of beauty, too...

[Mags]

Pride.

Today's word is 'irony'.

[David]

“I’m a leftist, if that’s an issue or conversation starter.”

[David]

Today’s word is ‘irony’.

Or, “The chronically self-involved ain’t generally known for being conscientious.”

[JuliaM]

I’m currently hearing a lot of ads for Pride-related stuff on Radio Two, with people proudly proclaiming themselves ‘gender non-conforming’.

Can’t help feeling like the most important aspect to them is not the ‘gender’ bit…

[David]

Can’t help feeling like the most important aspect to them is not the ‘gender’ bit…

They are, however, conforming.

[Clam]

“Alternatives to policing.”

Is this the mirror universe?

[David]

Is this the mirror universe?

You know, for children.

[asiaseen]

"It’s a car, it’s a helicopter. (h/t, Things) "

Having flown aircraft-carrier based aircraft with folding wings, I shudder to think of the maintenance problems that concept will have.

[TimT]

More pencil thrills.

Did you hear about the constipated accountant? He worked it out with a pencil.

[David]

He worked it out with a pencil.

[ In the alleyway, a coat burns. ]

[Ray]

The thrill of pencils

Reminds me of Harry Potter's wand shop. How do you explain the exact pencil you want? It must be blue, with gold lettering, no eraser, and a little softer than a 2B. No, a lighter blue than that. Oh, and it had to have a phoenix feather in it. Or perhaps the guy just looks you up and down and then recommends one based on your aura?

[David]

By the way, I was also entertained by Clarkson’s Farm.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

... I shudder to think of the maintenance problems that concept will have.

You are too cynical, just because an average just plain helicopter requires 10-16 hours maintenance/flight hour, you think the average Joe and Jane who never change the oil in their cars are going to have issues with that contraption that looks like some kid cobbled together all the left over bits from unfinished model kits ?

Come on, man, it is the future, it is battery powered, after all (25,000 AA batteries not included).

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Meanwhile, speaking of the future, sometimes pride flags are just not enough, and IKEA has solved that problem with "pride" love seats.

By the way, I was also entertained by Clarkson’s Farm.

If you've not seen it, check out James May: Our Man in Japan.

[David]

sometimes pride flags are just not enough, and IKEA has solved that problem with “pride” love seats.

If you need your sexuality to be affirmed, garishly, by furniture, then there’s probably something wrong with you, emotionally.

[PiperPaul]

"Enhance diverse perspectives" = avoid harrassment by paying extortion I presume.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

GIF of note.

[PiperPaul]

"It’s a car, it’s a helicopter"

Only if I can get it with a manual transmission.

[PiperPaul]

The thrill of pencils

My grandfather worked as the manager of a stationery shop and used to bring me writing utensils when I was a small child. I got infected early and my best guess is that a have about 150 pencils, pens, markers and other miscellaneous pencil-type things within 25 feet of where I'm now sitting.

[Joan]

man found with cocaine between buttocks told police someone else must have put it there,

Hmm. Not convinced.

[David]

Not convinced.

Well, unless it was a very lively party.

One of the pleasures of watching Cops and Live PD is noting just how often a miscreant apprehended with vast quantities of drugs stashed upon his, er, person will announce, optimistically, “These aren’t my pants.” I also recall a female detainee, a lady of some size, attempting the same with a number of items found inside her bra.

It happens with sufficient regularity to make for a decent drinking game.

[Burnsie]

Well, unless it was a very lively party.

If I woke up after a party with cocaine between my buttocks, I'd have questions.

[Alex DeWynter]

My first thought was that maybe it has some improvised medical purpose. Still working on a second thought.

Probably religious.

[WTP]

Curious if any of the more medically inclined here could clarify my thinking. To my layman understanding, this study seems to indicate that tonsils play an important part in fighting respiratory diseases, especially in regard to IgA which, IIUTC, is not as readily detectable in PCR tests. If I have this right, perhaps the removal of tonsils, something that was very prevalent in the US and UK and other western countries back in the1950's and 1960's might have had a significant impact on the spread and the ability to fight off COVID. Does anyone know of a study or otherwise indication of a correlation between COVID severity/deaths and presence of tonsils and adenoids? Keep in mind this paper is from August 2020...and has yet to be peer reviewed. Which also seems rather odd to me at this point.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7430621/

[asiaseen]

You are too cynical

Mr Muldoon, I guess you are right. But looking on the bright side, at least it should clear the world of model-kit unused bits.

[Alex DeWynter]

The spinoff you never knew you needed.

Laying down a few markers:

1. Tilly will be a Mary Sue of at least Batwoman levels, existing entirely to outdo and humiliate Gaston and Le Fou.

2. Middleton's singing and/or acting ability will prove to be marginal at best, glaringly so in comparison with Evans and Gad.

3. Anyone pointing out either or both of these will be loudly denounced as a racist, misogynist hatey mchateface.

[David]

If I woke up after a party with cocaine between my buttocks, I’d have questions.

I notice Julia’s been very quiet on the subject. But they say a lady never tells.

[Darleen]

“These aren’t my pants.”

Yep ... saw that often in police reports ... along with people pulled over driving a stolen car, no license plate, punched ignition

"This is my friend's car"
"What's your friend's name?"
" ... "

[David]

Yep ... saw that often in police reports

I must’ve seen a dozen variations of the same theme. Presumably, these innocent unfortunates just spend a lot of time wandering around in other people’s shoes, trousers, and undergarments, blissfully unaware of both the owner’s identity and the various pipes, powders and plastic bags stashed therein.

One detainee pat-down featured a magnificently doomed attempt at concealment and an amused police officer saying, “I’m guessing that bulge isn’t… anatomical.”

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

WTP -

PCR amplifies bits of RNA or DNA, it doesn't detect IgA or other immunoglobulins, the guys in the paper devised a test specifically looking for anti-covid sIgA in covid "positive" patients. What they found basically was that true covid positives demonstrated higher levels of anti-covid sIgA than true negatives with high specificity and sensitivity (i.e., a good test, as opposed to PCR).

Tonsils are essentially just giant lymph nodes and do produce sIgA along with B and T cells, however tonsils (and adenoids) are generally extremely atrophied in adults so would not be expected to offer any significant protection above baseline, however, given that the atrophy starts in late childhood/adolescence, it might be part of the explanation why kids are generally unaffected by Kung Flu.

[Wacko Bird]

"...Scores on the “plan for enhancing diverse perspectives” will inform funding decisions...Researchers working on an NIH neuroscience grant should be drawn from institutions that are traditionally underrepresented in biomedical research, including “community-based” organizations...."

Translation?: You will be contacted by one or more approved "community based" organizations with no experience in biomedical research to offer their services on the research project. Their participation be required before the research is funded. The recommendations of the consultants must be incorporated into the research, this may include hiring of specific persons, setting job titles and pay, purchasing equipment and supplies from BIPOC-owned companies, and final editing/approval of research reports. A portion of the grant will be paid to the community based consulting organization.

[WTP]

PCR amplifies bits of RNA or DNA, it doesn't detect IgA or other immunoglobulins

Yeah, I get that. I screwed the pooch there and didn't communicate that correctly....or well at all. What I was trying to get at was that COVID is more easily/cheaply detected via PCR tests (and all the issues with those as even the PCR test inventor himself tried to get through Fauci's thick head before he died) and again quite sloppy on my part as in my head I've conflated to some degree PCR tests (i.e. in-the-moment) with serology tests (more historical)...which of course is exceptionally wrong because...well, you know. From what I read elsewhere a while ago, the standard serology test that are done and that one gets for free with a blood donation is IgM/IgG based and less effective than a test for IgA, which is harder/more expensive to detect. Don't recall where I got this info as I can't seem to find it now, but IIRC negative standard tests miss around 20% of what an IgA based test would have found. I do recall T-cells being an important difference. And maybe I have IgM/G/A mixed up a bit. T-cells is the important part. Really wish I could find that original article but it was from weeks/months ago.

OK, but regardless of my mucking up the details (and persistent googling shows I am far from the only one...even conflicting info from supposed medical professional sites)...

Tonsils are essentially just giant lymph nodes and do produce sIgA along with B and T cells, however tonsils (and adenoids) are generally extremely atrophied in adults so would not be expected to offer any significant protection above baseline, however, given that the atrophy starts in late childhood/adolescence, it might be part of the explanation why kids are generally unaffected by Kung Flu.

As you say this certainly could help explain the current environment where children are less susceptible to this disease. But even if the efficiency of tonsils etc. decreases with oncoming adulthood, a child's immunity capacity would still be affected between the time of tonsil removal and gradual onset of adulthood. Wouldn't a child who did not have tonsillectomy potentially develop a slightly better immune system during that time period? Perhaps that would carry into adulthood?

Sort-of disclaimer...I often post from my iPad and I'm finding using hunt=and-peck on the iPad I conflate/lose my train of thought by the time I get the words typed out. I try to tell myself not to do that if I have something complicated to say.

[Sol]

Headline writer gets man's profession wrong

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

From what I read elsewhere a while ago, the standard serology test...

Hence the beauty of this test, if it holds up, because it is done with saliva instead of blood, and can be run, for example, in a doc's office. Regardless, you are correct that there has been demonstrated T-cell immunity in the absence of detected antibodies.

Wouldn't a child who did not have tonsillectomy potentially develop a slightly better immune system during that time period? Perhaps that would carry into adulthood?

I've only seen one study that suggested there might be more adverse outcomes later related to early tonsillectomy, but as it was from one country, and retrospective, it should be taken with a 5lb bag of salt. One has to bear in mind that tonsils are a small part of an elaborate mechanism that involves the whole body.

[WTP]

Thx for the info. Yes, I take pretty much everything with a 5, 10, 20 lb bag of salt. And the greater the expert, the bigger the bag it seems lately. Unfortunately biology is a bigger weak spot for me than most other science so unless I can contain the problem space to numbers or logic, I have to spend way too much time hunting terms and context to follow some of the more advanced biology stuff.

[WTP]

It’s a car, it’s a helicopter.

I know we all said we wanted flying cars, myself included. It pretty much defined what the 21st century is supposed to be about. Well that and Daughter Judy...but I digress. As disappointing as the 21st century has turned out, I still wonder if this whole flying cars thing has been thought through by people. Ever look at the people in the cars around you when you're stopped at a traffic light?

[a different james]

I must’ve seen a dozen variations of the same theme. Presumably, these innocent unfortunates just spend a lot of time wandering around in other people’s shoes, trousers, and undergarments, blissfully unaware of both the owner’s identity and the various pipes, powders and plastic bags stashed therein.

Spend a day in your Magistrate's Courts and a couple of things will strike you:
1. How phenomenally dim most of the offenders are
2. How you really have to be unlucky or an incorrigible recidivist to actually be sentenced to jail

[Squires]

Ever look at the people in the cars around you when you're stopped at a traffic light?

Not half an hour ago I was idling behind a vehicle upon the tailgate of which was recorded:

EATIN SHITTIN
FORD’S DODGE’S

[Darleen]

If you need your sexuality to be affirmed, garishly, by furniture, then there’s probably something wrong with you, emotionally.

I watched the video and ...

I'm reminded of all the old-school tv comedy shows that marked narcissism by showing the character in his/her own home surrounded surrounded by large painted portraits and sculptures of themselves.

This corporate "wokeness" is just feeding such narcissism!

[Megaera]

Maybe help will come...

True confession: that one about did for me. No idea why I found it so wrenching, but the descriptor itself grabbed my attention and then the video of that desperate, clearly non-polar-winter Lab sitting on its small chunk of ice and being brave was a killer. Maybe too much Stephen Crane when I was younger. And then the guy in the survival suit (minus helmet and for all I know his ears may have fallen right off afterward) SWIMMING out to get him...

Wo.

[David]

that one about did for me.

I’ve shared this one before - on the range of human beings a puppy can encounter.

It begins in a very dark place, but there is a pay-off.

[David]

I’m reminded of all the old-school tv comedy shows that marked narcissism by showing the character in his/her own home surrounded by large painted portraits and sculptures of themselves.

It reeks of neoteny. I mean, when you’re a teenager, being gay is generally, and understandably, a big thing. But if you’re in your thirties and forties, and you’re still making a Big Deal of it and relating everything within range to your supposedly fascinating “queerness,” and craving affirmation from items of furniture - despite living in the most accommodating societies ever to have existed - it does suggest arrestedness, self-involvement, and tiresome role-play.

See also, this tool here.

[Squires]

It begins in a very dark place...

Some people need killin’. It is as simple as that.

[Liam]

It begins in a very dark place, but there is a pay-off.

That was an emotional rollercoaster.

[David]

That was an emotional rollercoaster.

It’s a pretty good reminder that there are different kinds of tears.

[ Clears throat, adopts manly stance. ]

[David]

Spend a day in your Magistrate’s Courts and a couple of things will strike you:
1. How phenomenally dim most of the offenders are
2. How you really have to be unlucky or an incorrigible recidivist to actually be sentenced to jail

Watching Cops and Live PD, what strikes me is how shockingly, pathologically selfish the perpetrators are. The utter disregard for others is pretty much a default, as if other human beings were just props in some ongoing psychodrama, and only there to be preyed upon. To have things taken from them.

I remember one lengthy pursuit of thieves who’d robbed a store at gunpoint, terrorised its owner, and then fled the scene in a stolen car, and whose bid to escape did repeated and costly damage to other people’s property, and caused other road users to veer and crash, resulting in serious injury. When finally apprehended, the thieves, themselves unharmed, were entirely unconcerned by the horror and destruction left in their wake, or the fact that it was all but miraculous that no-one had been killed. Instead, they were indignant, as if they were the victims of the drama, heatedly objecting to the discomfort of handcuffs, and demanding to know why their phones had been confiscated. While, within earshot, injured children were being rushed to hospital.

And yet these are the sociopaths that so many leftists wish to excuse, and boast of excusing. As if the favour would ever be returned.

[pst314]

Black Lives Matter activist in Cambridge, Massachusetts arrested for torturing and killing cats.

[pst314]

Olympic athlete Gwen Berry, who poses as an "antiracism" activist, turns out to have a history of racist speech. Why am I not surprised?

[Ray]

Psychopaths: Dirty Harry did nothing wrong.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Once I saw a straight man beaten with a giant dildo in front of his family at a drag show in Key West. And he didn’t call the police.

So clearly this woman overreacted.

[Jen]

When finally apprehended, the thieves, themselves unharmed, were entirely unconcerned by the horror and destruction left in their wake, or the fact that it was all but miraculous that no-one had been killed. Instead, they were indignant, as if they were the victims of the drama,

That. I miss 'Cops'.

[David]

That. I miss ‘Cops’.

It did illustrate quite vividly the psychology of the type, and made the customary excuses for such behaviour, indulged in habitually and without remorse, seem quite insulting. Both to the victims and the viewer.

[anon a mouse]

beaten with a giant dildo

*scriptwriters meeting notes for next Godzilla flick are... Hmmmm*

[WTP]

So clearly this woman overreacted

Exactly. I mean come on. No different than what the Red Hot Chili Peppers did at Daytona Spring Break back in 1990 and are not the RHCP an honorable band? Just a lot of conservative, right wing moralizing that by this very example I present, has been going on for well over 30 years now. That's the real story. We need to stamp out this prudish behavior now before it does real, serious damage to our society.

[pst314]

No different than what the Red Hot Chili Peppers did at Daytona Spring Break back in 1990

Rage against the radical left rape machine?

[pst314]

EATIN SHITTIN
FORD’S DODGE’S

The mutual hostility between Ford, Dodge, and Chevrolet owners is...puzzling.

[WTP]

The mutual hostility between Ford, Dodge, and Chevrolet owners is...puzzling.

Having owned both Fords and Chevys, and not being much of a NASCAR fan...long story...the depth of animosity there does get a bit silly. That Chrysler corporation crap however...

[WTP]

The war on reality.

[David]

The war on reality.

Protestor plus bicycle versus water cannon.

[Darleen]

So clearly this woman overreacted

"How dare you not understand We Drag Queens Are Lewd, Obscene and Proud of It!"

Also

"Why do you object to us having access to your children in public libraries?"

[PaulF]

Protestor plus bicycle versus water cannon.

The obvious question: am I evil if I laughed?

[sk60]

Protestor plus bicycle versus water cannon.

Physics is hard.

[Alex DeWynter]

It begins in a very dark place, but there is a pay-off.

Hope for Paws! I love those folks.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Physics is hard.

Pavement is harder...

[pst314]

English bloggers outraged over aerosol canned tea. Fail to notice that company is English. No point in dumping it in Boston Harbor, so how about the Thames?

[pst314]

I was under the impression that the most sacred thing in England was tea, but perhaps I was mistaken:

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

English bloggers outraged over aerosol canned tea.

Yeah, they ruin tea by putting milk in it, but get upset over concentrate in a can ?

[anon a mouse]

Tea?
It's "sweet tea" to y'all...

[pst314]

It's "sweet tea" to y'all...

I suspect the galleons will sail at dawn, unless I can distract David with news about the Perfidious French.

[I'm French. Really.]

France makes better sausages than England!

[Van Gogh]

The Dutch make better cheese!

[M. Janssens]

Belgian beer is best!

[Directrix Gazer]

France makes better sausages than England!

Perhaps, but how are their emulsified high-fat offal tubes?

[Somebody French, maybe Maurice]

Perhaps, but how are their emulsified high-fat offal tubes?

CMOT Dibbler is an Englishman.

[Apu Nahasapeemapetilon]

India has better cricket players!

[Manuel, not necessarily a waiter at Fawlty Towers]

Spain plays better football!

[NTSOG]

Italian football players are also good at sports like diving.

[Richard Cranium]

Checks URL to ensure that he isn't reading an Ace of Spades comment section

OK. Something new every now and then.

I do remember a classic riff at Protein Wisdom where the commenters raked the person with the nick of "A Phoenician in the times of Romans" over the coals with their socks.

[Nigel]

The other day on on the M25 I was behind a bloke who had a sticker on on the boot of his Rolls that said

Eating        Shiteing
Bentley's    Vauxhall's

[WTP]

Thanks for the Clarkson's Farm tip. Greatly enjoyed the first two episodes.

[anon a mouse]

Galleons? Pshaw. This is Texas.
A muted celebration, as we're down to our last 3,000 or so rounds...

Oh, and Maurice, how is the pompetous of love?

[Cloudbuster]

Not entirely unrelated

Hey! They could use gas and diesel home generators to charge their electric vehicles!

[Fay]

"Yeah, they ruin tea by putting milk in it, but get upset over concentrate in a can ?"
Twaddle Farnsworth. Americans never have and never will know how to make a proper cuppa. My very first experience of ordering tea in the US was in a hotel in San Jose CA. It arrived as a styroform cup filled with microwaved water with (shudder) a Lipton tea bag on the side and a plastic container of "creamer". G-d knows, I love America but culinary prowess isn't it's forte.

[Ed Snack]

“India has better cricketers…” Ahem, NZ would like a word…

[Lady Cutekitten of Lolcat]

I make good tea, right here in America. You’re all invited for a cup if you ever come to our shores. The henchlesbians are welcome too. ( I have not typed “henchlesbians “ in a while. Spellcheck wanted to change it first to “hen blessing,” and, when I didn’t go for that, “lesbian barn.”)

[David]

Spellcheck wanted to change it first to “hen blessing,” and, when I didn’t go for that, “lesbian barn.”

Heh. Both have potential.

Our betters just know, you know.

To residents of our former colony, a happy fourth.

[David]

Thanks for the Clarkson’s Farm tip. Greatly enjoyed the first two episodes.

The first episode is probably the weakest, but as things go on it develops a certain charm, and by the end of the season, I was hoping for more. The scene with an amplified Gerald – still incomprehensible and now much louder - was quite special.

[Stephanie Richer]

Watched th first two episodes of “Clarkson’s Farm” last night. Am duly impressed with Victorian field plumbing, the system of knowing which ram shagged which ewe, and Gerald.

Oh, and Kaleb. He’s 21? I want my daughter to marry him.

[Andy B]

an amplified Gerald – still incomprehensible and now much louder

So Brits can't understand him either? Whew.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Americans never have and never will know how to make a proper cuppa.

The Boston Harbor begs to differ, but why would we ? A "proper cuppa" is the absolute acme rolled into one of cultural assimilation, colonialism, racism, yte supremacy, and, what with all the farting cows to make milk, Gaia raping.

Besides, I know for a fact that Twaddle Farnsworth is a village near Upton Snodsbury.