After 15 Years, He Finally Cleaned The Place

Yes, a subtle layout overhaul. A light dusting. As is the way with such things, there may be one or two glitches to sort out, archived videos that need to be resized, etc. Do feel free to point them out. But overall, the blog should be more legible and responsive to a range of devices. Less squinting, I think.

Also, I now have a Twitter account. By all means follow me there. I mean, you wouldn’t want to miss anything, would you?

And because there’s always, but always, a catch…

It’s time to remind patrons that this rickety barge, on whose seating your arses rest, is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant a while longer, and remain ad-free, there’s an orange button below with which to monetise any love. Debit and credit cards are accepted. For those wishing to express their love regularly, there’s a monthly subscription option top right. And if one-click haste is called for, my PayPal.Me page can be found here. Additionally, any Amazon UK shopping done via this link, or for Amazon US via this link, or via the buttons top right, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you. 

For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last decade and a half, in over 3,000 posts and 150,000 comments, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start - in particular, the end-of-year summaries, which convey the fullest flavour of what it is we do. A sort of blog concentrate. If you like what you find there… well, there’s lots more of that. If you can, do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads too. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found. And do please join in.

As always, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company. 

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.

Comments

[ccscientist]

I have seen many claims that the outdoors are too "white" and too hetero. But of all the things one could do, hiking or biking in the wild is possibly the least exclusionary thing imaginable. All you need is a car to get to the park, and there you are. Fees are minimal, no one says you can't enter, no dress code, you don't have to get hired or have good grades. You can be a felon or crazy.. Ah, but someone might look at you! The claim seems to revolve around a perception that "people think of it as white/hetero" but in fact no one thinks that way at all. They just think of the trees.

[pst314]

The claim seems to revolve around a perception that "people think of it as white/hetero" but in fact no one thinks that way at all. They just think of the trees.

For a certain kind of person, the idea that people might not think of them at all is terrifying.

[pst314]

For a certain kind of person, the idea that people might not think of them at all is terrifying.

But when they demand that we constantly think of them, this response is appropriate.

[PaulF]

Resentment, contempt, and hate. Posted by Farnsworth at 18:40.

Being a daily visitor to this site, I've lost count of the number of awful comments made in the source material that David has brought to our attention. But this one that Farnsworth reported a few hours ago...

Wow. Just wow, wow, wow. If that's a genuine thing, not fake, that might be the most awful comment I've ever read here. Which (sadly) is really saying something.

PS err, *ping* appears to be the appropriate word! Keep up the good (if often rather depressing) work.

[pst314]

On the topic of dysfunction: Cupio dissolvi:

In 2004, I discovered an Italian blog called Joy of Knitting, and linked to one of her posts, from which I excerpted the following:

Cupio dissolvi…These words have been going through my mind for quite a long time now. It’s Latin. They mean “I (deeply) wish to be annihilated/to annihilate myself”, the passive form signifying that the action can be carried out both by an external agent or by the subject himself…Cupio dissolvi… Through all the screaming and the shouting and the wailing and the waving of the rainbow cloth by those who invoke peace but want appeasement, I hear these terrible words ringing in my ears. These people have had this precious gift, this civilization, and they have got bored with it. They take all the advantages it offers them for granted, and despise the ideals that have powered it. They wish for annihilation, the next new thing, as if it was a wonderful party. Won’t it be great, dancing on the ruins?

The post reminded me of some words from Walter Miller’s philosophical novel A Canticle for Leibowitz: “children of Merlin, chasing a gleam. Children, too, of Eve, forever buiding Edens–and kicking them apart in berserk fury because somehow it isn’t the same.”

[ end quote ]

[Daniel Ream]

the captured Japanese battle flag in the background on my wall.

I live in Canada, and have a TRUMP/PENCE 2016 lawn sign on my wall behind me in my home office. My new hobby is screwing with recruiters.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Cupio dissolvi...

In the same vein, everything west of I-5 delenda est.

[Geezer]

A Canticle for Leibowitz

[pst314]

Walking While Outdoors: A New Frontier For Fearless Homosexuals.

That's a very low bar for defining fearlessness. What's next? Fearlessly ordering a latte from the other coffee shop a block farther from home?

[pst314]

A Canticle for Leibowitz

A hauntingly good novel.

[David]

PS err, *ping* appears to be the appropriate word! Keep up the good (if often rather depressing) work.

Bless you, sir. May any superpowers you acquire be lucrative and glamorous, and arrived at by some means that isn’t overly distressing. No biting or bombardments or lightning strikes.

[Daniel Ream]

by some means that isn’t overly distressing

So no alien space virii that have a 90% chance of killing you outright. Noted.

[David]

I have seen many claims that the outdoors are too “white” and too hetero. But of all the things one could do, hiking or biking in the wild is possibly the least exclusionary thing imaginable.

It’s practically a staple of ‘progressive’ commentary and some minor variation of the same article crops up every few months. But if a person is so immersed in pretentious victimhood that they’re clearly scrabbling for excuses – say, pretending to be oppressed by the layout of hiking-supply stores, or the melanin levels of rock-climbing instructors, or with the claim that “natural spaces are a tool for capitalism and colonialism,” or that the logging industry is “painfully heteronormative” – and if they expect to be applauded for their contrivance - then their life would seem to be one of unwitting absurdity. A self-inflicted misery.

People who cultivate such mental habits – of practised victimhood and relentless, po-faced self-absorption – tend to be irritating and repellent. Not because of their skin colour or sexuality, as they pretend, but because they’re whiny narcissists who refuse to get over themselves.

[David]

[ Rummaging in archives continues. ]

August brought us news of Laurie Penny’s latest ‘coming out’ – I believe this is the fourth such event - this time as a being of indeterminate gender. Living, as she does, in a hamster-wheel world of competitive self-definition, Ms Penny felt it necessary to issue a daunting menu of pronouns and convoluted instructions on their use, seemingly dependent on both whim and weather conditions, and thereby reminding us of just how fascinating and complicated she is.

Journey To The Centre Of Attention.

[Tom]

whiny narcissists who refuse to get over themselves...

August brought us news of Laurie Penny...

I see what you did there.

[Captain Nemo]

David, I see your twitter page is now following 69 accounts. Heh.

[pst314]

I have seen many claims that the outdoors are too “white”...

I have seen claims that liking the outdoors is a contemptible "white" thing which all right-thinking black people find incomprehensible.

[pst314]

David, I see your twitter page is now following 69 accounts.

The true mark of success is when David gets banned from Twitter.

[David]

[ Rummaging continues. ]

“Being fat… is my chosen identity,” says Ms Duke. “An identity that ultimately gives me more freedom than it takes away.” Well, I suppose that rather depends on how one feels about the attendant risks of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, gallbladder disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, joint failure, incontinence, sleep apnea, breathing problems, depression, anxiety, and cancer. Compared to which, a form with the word obesity seems fairly trivial. Not the most obvious cause of “incredible damage.” But this, remember, is Slate, where our progressive betters howl about how crushing and unfair everything is. And so, being given priority for a vaccine during a pandemic, while others must wait, is actually, and obviously, a form of oppression.

Speaking of self-absorption.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Political ad of note.

[Captain Nemo]

The true mark of success is when David gets banned from Twitter.

Heh. Sometimes I'm surprised this blog hasn't been disappeared - clearly Typepad has a more... relaxed approach to hosting than some other places I can think of.

[David]

Sometimes I'm surprised this blog hasn’t been disappeared

And yet in person I’m quite adorable. Your mothers would love me.

[ccscientist]

Fat: being fat is so common that really no one even looks twice (though it may take more than one look to cover it). No one cares. So the disapproval these twits feel is all in their head. The damage they do to themselves, however, is not imaginary. My fat female friend lost her gall bladder years ago and has fatty liver disease (which can become cancer), blown out knees, and diabetes (type II). Still not dieting.
I used to whine but I finally realized that either people don't care or get annoyed. Stopped cold turkey mid-20s sometime. The idea that one can make a twitter career out of complaining...so sad. At least people complaining about oppression had a point back in 1900. Today? hahaha no

[pst314]

Fat: being fat is so common that really no one even looks twice

Although I do feel sad when I notice how many of the fit, slender young women I used to know are now obese or even morbidly obese. Some of the men, too.

And remember the old lie that obesity was "glandular"? How is it that the obese people I know tend to have obese dogs and cats? Not all of them, but a notable fraction.

[WTP]

Political ad of note.

OMG, I really like John Kennedy. Just don’t tell my parents. They were not fans. Though that was a different JK. But still…just to be safe…

[ccscientist]

John Kennedy: good ol' boy for the win. Love it when they use humor. "always be yourself, unless you suck" hahahaha
The "I have the right to remain silent, but lack the ability" is from a comedy sketch by Ron White. hahaha
emotional support pony ahahahaha

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

The damage they do to themselves, however, is not imaginary.

A close friend of my wife is short and obese (think Mike from "Monsters, Inc."). Years ago, she lost a ton of weight using Weight Watchers, but now she needs shots in her knees to keep going, and she has had dizzy spells. She's semi retired and living the RV life, but we wonder how much longer because of her health. Worse, she refuses to even get elastic knee braces to help take the strain off, because her doctor said they won't work (she's down to bone rubbing on bone). Which may be true, but wouldn't it be worth trying if it gives you less pain?

Her late father would brag about how he lied to the physical therapist about the exercises he was doing, as if he put one over on her. He ended up on a portable oxygen tank due to his smoking.

I can only conclude (and looking at my own behavior sometimes) that we are our own worst enemy.

[ccscientist]

Uma: our own worst enemy--yes, but being proud of that fact is not helpful. Just sayin'.

[Steve E]

From one of David's comments at the Speaking of Self-Absorption link comes this quote:

"...that purely comes from a societal structure that encourages thinness and punishes fatness."

It's beyond an empirical doubt that fatness punishes itself. A societal structure that encourages thinness isn't needed for this to be true.

Also, I like the vertical grey bar that denotes a blockquote. A nice improvement. It wasn't always clear something was a blockquote in the old format.

[ccscientist]

"punishes fatness": society does not punish fatness much. It might in a sense for jobs that require physical activity. Can't climb the ladder to do roofing? Too bad. Otherwise, no. Punishes romantically? Yes. There is a deep genetic attraction to signs of good genes and lack of disease. Fatness violates both of those and causes aversion. To put it bluntly, it can make your boner be a goner. Forcing us to love grossness is...even farther than Stalin ever took it.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Logic...

Wypipo can't be non binary because yte supremacy "upholds the oppressive gender binary"

Yeah, don't ask me what the hell she is barking about, or what the deal is with the white card tic, or why in the hell 99.99999% of tictokers, youtubers, and other "content creators" cannot for love nor money do a voice and music mix so you can actually hear what drivel they are spewing.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Via Ace, my body my choice, it is just a clump of cells, so I must build an altar for the catharsis, or something.

Much more spiritual than just using any of the bourgeois readily available contraceptives.

[pst314]

Yeah, don't ask me what the hell she is barking about...

Barking is the right word. This is not an adult human being.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

“We've taken over City Hall and are now rolling out the ‘People’s Public Comment.’ F*ck their bogus rules; this is what democracy looks like,” because having homeless camps full of druggies and mentally ill people outside a school is a human right.

[David]

One more time. Thanks to all who’ve chipped in, or subscribed, or done shopping via the Amazon links, including all those much too shy to say hello. It’s much appreciated and is what keeps this place here.

[Martin D]

Belated PING!

[David]

Belated PING!

Bless you, sir. When answering a texted enquiry with the words “ironing shirts,” may you not mistype, resulting in the mental image of “ironing shits.”

[mark]

Yes, a subtle layout overhaul.

Reminds me of when my favorite dive bar at the top of the hill installed more lighting.

[David]

Reminds me of when my favorite dive bar at the top of the hill installed more lighting.

[ Rummages under bar, emerges with jar of moisturiser. ]

[mark]

[ Rummages under bar, emerges with jar of moisturiser. ]

Ooh, is that camel hump fat moisturizer?

[David]

It’s a versatile product.

[pst314]

[ Finishes rebuilding transmission. ]

Yes, very versatile.
Okay, give it a spin, David. No more funny noise when you shift gears.

[Ray]

An even more belated PING.

*returns to lurking*

[David]

An even more belated PING.

Bless you, sir. May you be pleased to discover that Sainsbury’s do a surprisingly good canned mojito.

[Alice]

I didn't have you down as a mojito drinker, David. 😊

[David]

I didn’t have you down as a mojito drinker, David. 😊

I’m not a great gargler of mojitos, or cocktails generally, but The Other Half was tempted and curiosity got the better of me. The differentiation of flavours over time – the term for which escapes me – is surprisingly good. Much better than the M&S offering, which is a bit… meh.

#DaveDoesCocktailTips

[Esto]

Okay, mojito man, I finally cracked. Your tip jar has been hit.

[David]

Okay, mojito man, I finally cracked. Your tip jar has been hit.

Bless you, sir. May your non-stick pan bottoms remain non-stick.

[pst314]

Okay, give it a spin, David. No more funny noise when you shift gears.

[ David drives off to the Peak District, quietly but trailed by a faint aroma of camel. ]

[pst314]

[ Looks up smoke point of hump fat. ]

I wonder if I should have cautioned David to not drive faster than 25 kph.