Woo! We’re Number One!

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Oct 122023
 

Humanity, that is. In terms of our ability to scare the crap out of African wildlife.

Fear of the human “super predator” pervades the South African savanna

In short: cameras and speakers were set up near watering holes and a wide range of sounds, including lions and other predators, were played. Animals got the hell out of Dodge when the heard humans at a much greater rate than any other sound.

As a whole (n = 4,238 independent trials), wildlife were twice as likely to run (p < 0.001) and abandoned waterholes in 40% faster time (p < 0.001) in response to humans than to lions (or hunting sounds). Fully 95% of species ran more from humans than lions (significantly in giraffes, leopards, hyenas, zebras, kudu, warthog, and impala) or abandoned waterholes faster (significantly in rhinoceroses and elephants). Our results greatly strengthen the growing experimental evidence that wildlife worldwide fear the human “super predator” far more than other predators

Yay, I guess?

The “sounds of humans” turn out to be simple recorded conversations, male and female, in several languages. Not shouting, not angry, just “hey, how ya doin'” level chitchat. Rhinos and elephant just “nope” on out of there; other animals freak and dash. In contrast, lion sounds caused elephants to *attack* the speakers.

Yeah, I’m not sure I feel all that great about being the most terrifying thing on the planet.

 Posted by at 12:49 pm

A little note about ad blockers

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Oct 092023
 

It seems that ad blockers nuke the Amazon links I put in my posts from time to time. The most recent blog post below (“Oh, no reason…”) had a few issues with such ads being rendered invisible and unclickable. If, like me, you have an ad blocker, you *should* be able to unblock specific pages to whole websites. I understand if you want to keep an adblocker running at full blast, but it’d be handy if you white-listed my blog. Especially if you might be interested in Amazon stuff I link to from time to time; if you order an item through that link, or anything from an Amazon search link on this blog, I receive a tiny pittance of a smidgen of compensation. So it’s a way to support the Culturally Vital Work I Do. And who doesn’t want to be a part of that?

 

Below are some links to items (mostly books) that may well be of interest. certainly of interest to *me,* though I haven’t bought any of them. if you can see the links, great! If not… they’ve been nuked by your ad blocker.

 

 Posted by at 1:48 am

Fifth Column

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., Hmm..., news, politics, religion, Worldwreckers, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 082023
 

I don’t care if you don’t want to storm the streets to protest for Israel. But if you go out to celebrate Hamas intentionally murdering civilian men, women and children, celebrating the kidnap, rape, torture of women and children… you and I can’t be friends. There is no place for you out among the stars. Go wallow in the filth.

 

Note that these protests aren’t in the third world, but in western countries like Britain and the Netherlands and Canada and Australia. They are celebrating the intentional slaughter of families not dissimilar to yours. Those who would celebrate a thing, are not far from doing a thing. So keep that in mind the next time you hear a political debate on whether or not your country should allow in yet more military-age males from cultures that don’t like yours.

 

 

 Posted by at 11:59 am

Magic and Occult Sciences

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, religion, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 072023
 

One of these words is not like the others. One of these words doesn’t belong.

MA in Magic and Occult Sciences

Well, kids, here’s a degree that will surely come in handy in the economy of tomorrow…

This is a flexible degree, which provides you the freedom to design you own course of study. Led by a team of faculty members across departments (see our “members” tab), an essential aspect of this programme is its interdisciplinarity.  Thus, the University of Exeter’s MA in Magic and Occult Science allows you to explore your specific interest within the long and diverse history of esotericism, witchcraft, ritual magic, occult sciences, divination, and related topics.

They keep using the word “science.” I do not think it means what they think it means.

But here’s where it gets spectacular:

By housing this program in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, we place the Arabo-Islamic cultural heritage back where it belongs in the centre of these studies and in the history of the “West.” Decolonisation, the exploration of alternative epistemologies, feminism, and anti-racism are at the core of this programme. 

Oh yeah. I have *got* to see how this plays out. Is there any more entertaining matchup than “Islam” and “witchcraft?” Throw in “feminism,” and this looks to be *hilarious.*

 

 Posted by at 8:39 pm

Yet another war

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Oct 072023
 

“Palestinians” decided it would be not only a good idea to launch thousands of rockets into Israel, but to send a large number of invaders into Israel to slaughter civilians. I’m not sure what they thought they’d gain from this; it sure as hell won’t be the overthrow of Israel. Perhaps it will be the conversion of Gaza into a depopulated buffer zone.

 

Israel In ‘State Of War’ After Hamas Fires 5,000 Rockets In “First Strike”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 1:44 am

Yay, chaos

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Hmm..., news, youtube  No Responses »
Oct 032023
 

Why everyone’s phone will alarm at 2:20 pm ET on Wednesday

“Everyone” in the US, at any rate, will supposedly receive a text message stating “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” Additionally, some sort of weird alert noise.

OK, fine. Here’s the weird bit:

The test will be broadcast by cell towers for approximately 30 minutes beginning at 2:20 pm ET, FEMA said. During this time, all compatible wireless phones that are switched on, within range of an active cell tower, and whose wireless providers participates in WEA tests should receive the text message.

The test will run for half an hour? I *assume* it means the system will try for half an hour to reach out to all phones for half an hour to send that one message. As opposed to blatting the siren out of your phone for half an hour. That’d be nuts. That’d be stupid. That’d be annoying and frustrating and disruptive. That’d also be the sort of thing that some dimwitted bureaucrats would sign off on.

 Posted by at 5:00 pm

A good shoot

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Sep 302023
 

Is it proper to shoot a stranger who follows you around at close distance, behaves menacingly and has his buddies film you? This jury said “yes.” My main question: “Why did this even go to trial?”

Jury acquits man of main charge in Virginia mall shooting of YouTube prankster

This is a good precedent. Pranksters suck. They *pretend* to be an immanent threat, then when faced with physical force, claim “It’s just a prank, bro!” Naw. Acting like a threat makes you a valid target for responding to you as if you are a threat. Maybe instead of trying to terrify people for clicks, you do something productive.

Sadly, the victim was convicted of some firearms charge, which doesn’t make sense given that the jury recognized that this was a self defense situation. Never forget: even in the most obvious self defense situation, where everything is as clear as can be… we’re operating in a  system of anarcho-tyranny where the government *wants* you to live in fear of actual criminals. Defend yourself, your stuff, your friends or family, the government will do what it can to drop an anvil on you. Because you defending yourself offends the powers that be somehow.

Here’s one of the videos of the incident filmed by one of the villains co-conspirators:

 Posted by at 11:52 pm

Oh, sure, let’s give the agents of the state a monopoly on force

 AARRRGH, blather, Crazy, Gah., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Sep 242023
 

Pennsylvania State Police trooper charged with strangulation, official oppression

According to a criminal complaint, Davis obtained an involuntary commitment under the Mental Health Procedure Act for a woman with whom he had a relationship.

There. Right there. That’s enough to go “Hold up, wait a minute, something ain’t right.” But even better, he found her out in the wild, tackled her and rolled her around on the rocks. Weird enough, but he’s substantially larger than her. In the video she *seems* reasonable enough under the circumstances. Of course the video starts with the action already in progress; perhaps she was going bugnuts prior to this. But what seems to be an ex boyfriend cop hunting down a woman out with another man, is a story that doesn’t sit right from the get-go

Some of the comentariat are complaining that the cameraman – possibly the new boyfriend – isn’t physically intervening. I get the impulse to do so… but I also understand that documenting the event is in all likelihood the best approach. Are you going to fight off the cop? Maybe, but then *other* cops will come hunt you down. Assuming the first guy doesn’t plug you or arrest you. Stand back, film, and see justice done in the end. Not as manly, not as satisfying… but a lot smarter.

Note that states that have laws against “high capacity” magazines and “assault” rifles typically have set-asides for off duty cops.

 Posted by at 8:34 pm

YouTuber worth watching: “Vampire Robot”

 AARRRGH, history, Hmm..., youtube, YouTubers worth watching  No Responses »
Sep 192023
 

This YouTuber has a *lot* of incredibly mundane videos that are surprisingly interesting. They are largely videos shot in public places over the years… stores, malls, etc. on average days and remarkable days.

https://www.youtube.com/@vampirerobot/videos

For instance, shopping at a mall in 1984 is a fundamentally different experience than any mall I’ve seen in over a decade: there are a lot of people there.

And then there are the videos shot on unusual days:

And then there are the videos that presage what we’re going to get to live through again:

 

 

 

 Posted by at 12:23 pm
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