‘Mulan’ singer CoCo Lee dead at 48 following suicide attempt
It would seem to have been a bit more than an “attempt.”
Jul 062023
Jul 052023
So the Russians are claiming that the Ukrainians are gonna blow up the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and then blame it on Russia. That’d certainly be a neat trick for the Ukrainians, since the Russians occupy and control the place. Ukraine claims the Russians are going to blow it up and blame it on Ukraine, but it seems that the wind would tend to blow the fallout into Russia.
Ukraine, Russia accuse each other of planning to attack Europe’s biggest nuclear plant
There have been two similar “false flag” attacks in this war: the Nord Stream pipeline and the Kakhovka dam. Small problem… sober analysis seems to indicate that both of those were destroyed by incompetence and/or neglect rather than direct action. But the nuclear power plant is shut down; it should be nicely inert. So if it explodes… somebody exploded it. Who is more likely to do that, Ukraine or Russia? Ukraine could probably only pull that off with some sort of major assault… a lot of troops, planes and armor, aided by HIMARS and the like raining down. While possible, that could hardly be disguised as a Russian attack. And of course, Ukraine wants the reactor back. It’s theirs, after all. Never mind the environmental devastation of its destruction, it’s worth a bucket of cash. Repairing it would be cost prohibitive, and resuming power generation would be an economic boon.
On the other hand, the Russians could well have mined the place. At the push of a button their could turn it into garbage.
Why would they do something so crazy? I dunno. Ask Prigozhin. Why do Russian military/political leaders do *anything,* and is there anything resembling reason, logic or sense to it?
If it happens… things will likely get sporty. An attack on Ukraine is not an attack on NATO. But intentionally causing a reactor meltdown or setting fire to spent fuel rods? That *might* send clouds of fallout over Germany, Poland and the like. They could consider that a radiological attack, and might invoke Article 5. And then it’s NATO vs Russia.
Jun 252023
I believe I am unanimous when I say…
An army – a *small* army – of poorly trained, ill-equipped chuckleheads managed to get within range of Moscow without getting kerploded by the Russian Army and Air Force. There is no getting past the fact that this makes the Russian military and leadership – especially Putin – look even more like incompetent ineffectual corrupt and cowardly boobs. Hell, at this point it might be best for everybody if we just have Finland send a few hundred drunken bums into Russia to conquer the place.
This was not something I expected to see anytime soon, but here we are. What’s next? The President of the USA hosting a bunch of half naked perverted weirdos on the White House lawn?
Jun 212023
As is well known by now, Disney has been making a mess of many of the properties they’re in charge of. The Marvel movies/shows have plummeted downhill; Pixar movies stink; the endless CGI “live action” remakes are soulless cash grabs at best, and to all reports that forthcoming Indiana Jones movie is gonna be *terrible.* And then there’s the smoking ruin of Star Wars. Why is this happening? To an outsider, it looks a lot like sabotage… a vast organization that wants to tear down not only its own legacy, but poison the culture as a whole. That’s crazy conspiracy theory talk, of course. But then… there’s this:
Disney’s Chief Diversity Officer Latondra Newton Exits
The fact that Disney – or any corporation – has not just a “diversity officer,” but a *Chief* “diversity officer” is of course a stinging indictment about their wisdom and sanity. But there’s one line in the article that jumped right out at me:
Disney HR chief Sonia Coleman’s note to staff announcing Newton’s departure … She has been dedicated to ensuring every person sees themselves and their life experiences represented in a meaningful and authentic way.
Ah. No. That’s just… NO. Bad storytelling company. Bad. BAD.
I don’t want to see myself and my life experience in *any* sort of way in any sort of movie that Disney might make. I want to see stuff that would inspire me to emulate. I don’t want to see what I am; I want to see what I can become. Once again, there are two world views:
1: “Look, Captain Kirk is on TV. I want to be like Captain Kirk.”
2: “Look, Captain Kirk is on TV. I want Captain Kirk to be like me.”
Worldview #2 is the one known as “representation.” It is cancer. It should be mocked, spat upon, driven from polite society out into the wasteland to die shriveled and alone, huddled against some broken forgotten ruin of a statue of a long unremembered tyrant. “Representation” does not inspire people to greatness; at best, it inspires smug complacency. It does not bring people together; it only divides. Because if Person A finds themselves represented by Character A who shares all the “important” weird little identity politics quirks of Person A… then Character A does *not* represent Person B who doesn’t share those quirks. Character A will only appeal to a thin slice of the audience… and then will not inspire those people to much of anything, because Character A tells them how awesome they Already Are. You don’t need to change, because you’re perfect just the way you are. (Unless, of course, you need to go on a risky series of hormone treatments and lop off your dangly bits.) And if Character A *doesn’t* share your identities, and in fact is quite different or even opposed, then you will feel outraged that someone isn’t catering to you.
So, yay for Disney getting rid of this one little symptom of the larger problem. Now get rid of the entire department, and let not the precepts of DEI ever be spoken of again.
Jun 192023
This morning I started seeing this context-less clip. In short, a guy is throwing rocks at houses, when he is suddenly mowed down by someone in a golf cart. Amusing enough.
100% justified 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/m1ZaspUbEc
— Donut Operator 🍩 (@DonutOperator) June 19, 2023
But the river and the bridges? They looked *very* familiar. but it’s a big country. Finally, a news item on the incident:
‘Golf Cart Guy’ Stops Moline Man Throwing Rocks In Windows
A viral video has come out of Moline near North Shore Drive along the Rock River of a man putting a stop to a man dealing thousands of dollars in property damage to the neighborhood.
Ha! Exactly where I thought it was, about 2.4 miles from here.
I’m so proud.
Jun 172023
Gropey Joe trotted out this old lie again:
Guns are the #1 killer of kids in America.
More than car accidents and more than cancer. We can't let that become just another statistic.
Let's ban AR-15-style firearms and other assault weapons.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 16, 2023
Fortunately, the internet is full of fact checkers…
What is "Unintentional Injury" you ask?
Mostly drowning, car accidents, suffocation, fires etc. pic.twitter.com/teN3Qt83fM
— Unbiased Crime Report (@UnbiasedCrime) June 16, 2023
https://t.co/2mIF9utJ1b Using CDC data: In the most recent available census year of 2021, setting the age between 1-17 yrs old (legal minors) for all causes of death the total is: 35,654
Firearms are listed at: 2,590 or 7.26% of the total.
It was number 4 below medical causes.… pic.twitter.com/Y2zRXxbSrm— The Sicilian Irish Robot (@misteryrobozo) June 17, 2023
That lists firearms as the cause of 7.26% of child mortality in the US. But here “child” is “birth to 17.” A *lot* of those “children shot dead are in the upper age range… and were shot while committing crimes (“gang related,” no doubt). Shot by people defending themselves, shot by cops, shot by other criminals. These “victims” merit no sympathy, of course. Unfortunately, hard numbers are hard to come by, but there’s this:
Please accurately represent the numbers. It's tragic when anyone dies, but most of these "kids" dying from gun violence are older teens and it's gang-related. We need to go after the gangs. pic.twitter.com/f2L9IZcDwl
— Anonymous Because You People Are Crazy (@AnonBecauseOf) June 16, 2023
Jun 172023
USSR Sprinkled More Than 2,500 Nuclear Generators Across The Countryside
These units used Strontium-90 (half life: 29 years) for the earlier ones, then Caesium-137 (half life 30 years) and Cerium-144 (half life 285 *days*). Half a century or more later the earlier units should still be kinda warm; those Cerium units will be dead as doornails (though perhaps the decay products might be spooky, not an expert). Probably some exciting weapons potential for those Stronium/Caesium units for go-getters with the gumption to go get ’em.
As good an idea as nuclear power is… this sort of thing goes to show what a nightmare a planned collectivist economy can be for the environment. You support socialism not only at your own peril, but everyone else’s.
Jun 142023
Maybe something like “you get what you repeatedly vote for.” In this case, Chicago repeatedly votes for the worst possible mayors (and, sadly for the rest of the state, the worst possible Governors). And Chicago suffers for it. Will they ever vote for “the other side?” I doubt it. Not until the city collapses utterly, the population drops by 90% and the survivors are replaced.
In First Month in Office Crime Jumps 38% Under New Chicago Mayor Johnson
Refuse to learn at your own peril.
Jun 142023
Leader says Belarus now has Russian nuclear weapons, wouldn’t hesitate to use them
A whackaloon second-rate dictator with access to nukes? What could possibly go wrong?
Jun 142023
Where the case is made that fandoms are composed not of people laser-focused on a single mono-topic, but who are *generally* nerdy, conversant in a range of fandoms, some related, some not, but all somewhat similar in having canon and lore and the like. The point being that when franchises and IPs are taken over by people who are *not* nerdy, they cannot relate to the fans, and end up making a mess of the product. They have fundamentally different worldviews.