If you want do something special to observe the fiftieth anniversary of November 22, 1963, I suggest rereading Brave New World or Till We Have Faces.
Category: Culture and anti-culture
What about giant sea sparrows?
“In an article on Saturday headlined ‘Flying saucers over British Scientology HQ’, we stated ‘two flat silver discs’ were seen ‘above the Church of Scientology HQ’. Following a letter from lawyers for the Church, we apologise to any alien lifeforms for linking them to Scientologists.”
I’d suggest harvesting organs from legislators, but that brain-death issue would still be a factor.
Time, crime and princesses
The government finally returned the hour they confiscated from me back in March. Let me offer a small suggestion to whoever is in charge of clocks in this country: how about making daylight “savings” time a local option? DST might make sense in the eastern regions of a time zone. However, I live near the western border of the central time zone, where the clock is already ahead of the sun, and turning the clock forward an hour in spring leaves me sleepy and irritable.
A related, depressing factoid:
Research based on time use surveys found Americans’ schedules are determined by television more than daylight.
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The flashing lights of the park ranger vehicle were on, another vehicle as well, and four rangers were there in case I attempted to flee after the dastardly crime of _______.
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Even if I should someday visit Japan, manifold orthopedic problems make it unlikely that I will ever climb Mt. Fuji. Fortunately, Google Maps street view has already done so. (Enter “Mount Fuji, Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan” in the Google Maps search box to get there.)
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We need more princesses, not more lawyers.
(Here’s a tune named for the Irish pirate queen: Grace O’Malley.)
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All hail Captain Justice. (Via Dustbury)
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Some good free music I recently found:
Dudeldrum — a low-budget, energetic Russian Corvus Corax.
Los Jekes — something like Chilean gypsy jazz.
Also, if you haven’t yet downloaded the first Diablo Swing Orchestra album, what are you waiting for?
A heart-warming picture
A sort of tribute to Thomas Kinkade, the “Painter of Light.” (From here.)
Miscellany
Guys und Panzer:
(Via the Borderline Boy.)
The Sailor Senshi meet the Jetsons. (Via Project Rooftop.)
“I think that when a human engineer lives a good life, he’s reincarnated as a beaver.”
Full disclosure: I am a creature of the sinister right-wing Koch brothers, just like Michael Mann. Both universities I attended, plus the one where I studied and photographed ballet and the one where I took part in the annual Renaissance Faire, have all received money from the Kochtopus.
Don’t expect a Calvin and Hobbes movie.
You probably shouldn’t expect another VEI 8 blast from Yellowstone, either.
I haven’t had a haircut in 20 years. Perhaps that is why I’m still alive despite riding my bike every day on the wild streets of west Wichita.
Notes on growing biochemical weapons.
Pride and Prejudice for academics.
Today’s musical interlude, lunatic bassist edition:
… the paradigm of the parable of the model of the metaphor
A couple of toys I recently came across:
And a useful how-to:
Word of the day
Nibiruistic (adjective), used to describe postulations, interpretations and opinions on natural phenomenae coloured by a wish for disasters on a Doomsday scale rather than based on scientific merit. The word is derived from Nibiru, the fictional planet invoked as the root cause for the disaster predicted by the Mayan calendar that would end the world on December 21st, 2012. Since the Mayan calendar was very ambiguous, it could be said to be the archetype for a Nibiruistic interpretation. Nibiruism (noun), a statement based on a wish for a disaster on a Doomsday scale rather than on scientific merit.
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Now that we’ve considered what the fox says, what does the moose say? ((“Hey, Rocky.”))
The furry anthem is not the first crime the Norwegian Flight of the Conchords has commmitted. Here are some earlier outrages (N.B.: rough language and worse):
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I abandoned Stella blah blah blah several episodes ago when it ceased to be fun. Ken the Brickmuppet stuck with it, and he has figured out what it all means:
We at Gainax hate you.
Our childhoods were miserable because we were a bunch of geeky, socially inept otaku who grew to hate our hobby (which we blame for all our lost opportunities). Nothing makes us sicker than seeing those who watch and enjoy anime for they remind us of our selves and our many personal failures. We hereby dedicate our lives to making you hate the medium as much as us, for we are transgressive and enlightened hipsters who understand the nihilistic futility of everything…Well…everything except the cruel pleasure we derive from getting you gullible fools to first enjoy something we create and then watch helplessly and despair as we dismember it without anesthesia before you. That is the greatest joy in all creation.That we are paid to do this is icing on the cake. It’s an ephemeral joy though. Your innocence thus defiled, you can bring us little amusement from this point on, but there are always others that follow the likes of you. Now get thee along, Aokigahara beckons you.
Today’s fun fact
You can buy a new paperback edition of Smith’s book for $7.19.
Update — Today’s fun quote:
The book most fibbed about, says the survey, is George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, which seems forgivable in these Orwellian times: apart from some character names, reading the news is almost exactly like reading the book.
Woozy Sunday
My neighbors decided that I didn’t need any sleep this weekend. Consequently, my mind is too fuzzy to focus on the posts I have planned. Instead, here’s another batch of miscellaneous nonsense.
The other space pirate spotted in Hollywood
For reasons that no one understands, my office is on The Hollywood Reporter‘s mailing list. It’s like any other Hollywood product: garbage, lavishly packaged. I spotted the above ad in this weeks’ issue. Is an anime film (albeit CG) going to get a major advertising campaign in the west?
Grain elevators and Odin
“No unmet needs exist and … current unmet needs that are being met will continue to be met.”
See also Thog’s Masterclass at Ansible.
Fans of ’80s music, maskerade has a request for you.
Why do engineers confuse Halloween and Christmas?
In lieu of a substantive post, here’s some miscellaneous nonsense I came across recently.
A Gentile goes into a men’s clothing store, where he sees an elegant suede jacket. “How much is that jacket?” he asks the clerk. When the clerk tells him $1,200, the Gentile says, “I’ll take it.”
At the last minute, a Gentile calls his mother to announce that, owing to pressure at work, he will be two hours late for the family Thanksgiving dinner. “Of course,” his mother says, “I understand.”
Put Jews in both of those situations and you have the working premise for at least 50 possible jokes….
The most harrowing performance of Bach you’ll ever see (via Dick Stanley):
(Via Charles Hill.)
Poor Matt Labash. Not everyone has what it takes to be a brony.
Odds and ends
After two summers of desert heat, we now have a summer of tropical monsoon rain. The Little Arkansas River, which runs north, west and south of my place, is the highest it’s been in years. More rain is predicted.
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It occurs to me that comparing Stella etc. to Girls und Panzer is misguided. Yura has more in common with such painfully self-conscious characters as Inu x Boku SS‘s Ririchiyo and Tsuritama‘s Yuki than with with Miho, and the story thus far has been more about Yura learning to play well with others than about girls playing with guns.
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Ryutaro Nakamura, who directed Serial Experiments Lain and Kino’s Journey, recently died. Jonathan Clements’ appreciation is here.
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Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita‘s Mediator should beware the dangers of undead hair.
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I generally consider “critic” to be a subset of the category “pompous fool.” Here’s an example why.
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One of my pictures was yesterday’s Botany Photo of the Day.
Observation
Few people read. I went to the DMV this morning to renew my driver’s license. There were at least fifty people there waiting for their summons, but the only book in sight was the one I brought with me. I expected that there would be a few Kindles and iPads in use, but nope. Everyone just sat there, doing nothing.
Dark Shadows, Guiding Light
Is there worse than the St. Louis Jesuits? Perhaps. (Keep the anti-nausea medication handy.)
Today’s quotes
I was taken particularly aback by the first five minutes of the film [Pacific Rim]. It shows very neatly and succinctly how we in the First World do have this knack for turning even the worst catastrophes, the most vicious wars, the most horrific losses of life, into forms of entertainment. Call it our penchant for commercializing everything, or a neat psychological trick for distancing ourselves emotionally and psychologically from the evils of this world, we can turn even global genocide into a game show, a video game, or a set of collectibles.
Norman is said to have his eyes on the Tory leadership; like Disraeli before him, he climbs the greasy pole with pen in hand. A product of Eton and Oxford, and a Ph.D. in philosophy, he combines politics and scholarship in a manner more common in Westminster than Washington. Boris Johnson, mayor of London and a rival in the race for Downing Street, dashes off witty works of popular history with ease; the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has authored polished biographies of Pitt and Wilberforce. There is no equivalent in America; books by politicians here are almost invariably bland, ghostwritten policy tracts or memoirs. This impoverishes our politics—historical ignorance and inarticulacy preclude statesmanship. ((But is there any statemanship in England today?))
Ace:
Al Sharpton will interview Rachel Jeantel tonight.
The closed captioning guy just hanged himself. He left this note: “Avenge me.”
Bonus quote — Avatar:
You guys are thinking too small. For that kind of capital, robot catgirl maids could be a reality!