Today’s “Danger Seeker:
Jun 142021
Jun 132021
A windshield decides to crack rather badly. Unless it’s a trick of the light, it *looks* like there are nodes in the failure pathways that are so hot they glow. Seems to be window heating elements arcing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CP9O42jh0rH/
Jun 122021
So there I was yesterday, working on the computer, Buttons on a pillow next to me. As he often does, he was just laying there purring up a storm, happy to be alive and part of the team. Then suddenly, with no visible or audible prompting, he began growling and howling, raising a stink like he was *pissed.* His tail fluffed out. His eyes were wide open and dilated. This went on for seemingly forever, but probably around 15-30 seconds. Then… it stopped. Within a few seconds he was purring again… and drooling. Drooling *a* *lot,* for another quarter hour or so. Then everything went back to utterly normal.
Given how he was purring loudly at the time, I’m pretty sure he was awake when he went nuts, though he has been known to sleep-purr. But whether awake or asleep, it was *weird* to hear him pissed off. This is the first time I can recall *ever* hearing him actually angry; it’s just not his way. He is by nature a happy cat. I first thought that maybe he was in pain, something that came onto him suddenly; but poking and prodding afterwards elicited no pain response, and he has eaten and used the litter box just fine since then.
Another thought occurred: he’s around 12 years old, which is getting up there in years for a cat. Perhaps he had a senior moment… some form of dementia. A daydream of a threat, perhaps.
In any event: AAAAAAAARGH.
Jun 102021
It’s nice to see some physics textbooks getting real about the dangers of statistics:
Is This a Real Science Textbook Introduction?
These words do in fact form the beginning of the first chapter of the book “States of Matter,” a text by CalTech physicist David L. Goodstein, as documented by the following extract from a digital copy of the book:
That’s neat. Who knew that statistical analysis was essentially the Necronomicon?
NOW IT IS OUR TURN.
Jun 092021
The reporters accent seems to kinda clash with the story.
I hate to “victim blame,” but who the frak wears a $20K gold chain to the gas station?
Jun 082021
… fill in the rest. You know the words.
Might be a prank. I could easily believe it either way.
Jun 052021
NYC shrink tells Yale audience she fantasizes about shooting white people in head
A New York City-based psychiatrist told an audience at the Yale School of Medicine in April that she had fantasies of “unloading a revolver into the head of any white person that got in my way.”
Dr. Aruna Khilanani spewed the race-hating virtual remarks … at the Ivy League institution’s Child Study Center on April 6.
…
“I had fantasies of unloading a revolver into the head of any white person that got in my way, burying their body and wiping my bloody hands as I walked away relatively guiltless with a bounce in my step. Like I did the world a f–king favor.”
There’s a lot of Really Interesting Opinions at that and other articles on the subject.
Her profile on the Independent Doctors of NY website seems, oddly, to have vanished. Fortunately, the internet never forgets, and archive.org has it archived from March and before:
Aruna Khilanani, MD, MA
Specialities: Psychiatry
Focus of Practice: Forensic Psychiatry, Grief, Self Esteem, Racial Identity
I am a female academic psychiatrist who has taught at Cornell NYPH, and run a process group for resident physicians at Harlem Hospital. I have a private practice in Morningside Heights of Manhattan, devoted to the treatment of mental illness, psychopharmacology, and psychotherapy. I am also a psychoanalyst. Here, I treat high functioning individuals who have jobs and significant relationships, but may struggle in certain areas that impact their personal or professional lives.
Also gives her address and phone number. Which I suspect will be changed soon, if not already. Now here’s the part that will shock, SHOCK, I SAY, you to your very core:
I completed a Masters of Humanities at the University of Chicago in critical theory, around issues of gender, race, sexuality, African American Studies, embodiment and class.
If you are one of those poor innocents who wonders why some people seem to be up in arms about “critical race theory” and are wondering why it should be excluded from government funding, programs and education… here’s why. CRT makes you racist, sometimes violently so.
Special Achievements/Awards:Arnold P. Gold Foundation: Gold Humanism Honor Society 2006
Golden Key Honors Society
Board Certifications:American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Forensic Psychiatry (Psychiatry and Neurology)
Somebody might want to look into those. A humanist fantasizing about genocide? Seems an odd mix.
An aside: is “psychiatrist goes insane and turns into a villain” a wider trope than just Harleen Quinzel? Of course given “Doctor” Khilananis course of study it seems she was cuckoo for CRT puffs before she started, so this seems to be more a matter of a loon taking up psychiatry.
Jun 052021
So, a bit of a “fail” here. As I’ve been working on the books, I’ve had things on in the background, TV and YouTube videos and the such. The perfect thing to have on is something interesting enough to serve as functional background noise, but not interesting enough to distract from the work. The YouTube channel “Fascinating Horror” turned out to be a mistake by that reckoning… every time one of his vids comes on, book productivity grinds to a halt. His videos are descriptions of historical events you may or may not have heard of, events where horrible, horrible things happened. Some, like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the Carrington Event, resulted in no known deaths. others, like the Halifax Explosion, were mass casualties.
Jun 032021
If this is even *half* accurate… no wonder my ancestors left that country for brighter shores.
The YouTuber here repeatedly repeats the error of calling Sweden “socialist,” an error popular among those who want to laud the Scandinavian system. But Sweden isn’t socialistic; like the other Nordic countries, Sweden is a capitalistic country… but one with an overpowered nanny state.Sweden tried socialism, decades ago; and as socialism always does, it failed. Sweden bucked the trend in getting rid of socialism without mass bloodshed… but it kept a lot of the trappings of socialist brutalism.
As well, it is culturally burdened with the dismal “Law of Jante,” a set of rules that have helped to normalize the “ghastly egalitarian” nature of Scandinavian culture.
The ten rules state:
- You’re not to think you are anything special.
- You’re not to think you are as good as we are.
- You’re not to think you are smarter than we are.
- You’re not to imagine yourself better than we are.
- You’re not to think you know more than we do.
- You’re not to think you are more important than we are.
- You’re not to think you are good at anything.
- You’re not to laugh at us.
- You’re not to think anyone cares about you.
- You’re not to think you can teach us anything.
These not only stand in stark contrast to American norms, they stand in stark contrast to Viking-era norms. These rules are touted as reasons why the Nordic countries are so “happy,” but the metrics used to determine that happiness seem at best dubious… more “acceptance” than “actually happy.” The result of Jante culture and government policies is a gray middle where nobody is too poor and nobody is too rich. Basically, this chops off both ends of the cultural bell curve. Sure, it gets rid of a lot of awfulness… but it also gets rid of a lot of greatness. And in actual fact, the existence of exceptional greatness, even when paired with equivalent awfulness, promotes actual forward progress. Look at Elon Musk: had he not been allowed to become stinkin’ rich, and not been allowed to flaunt that cash, we wouldn’t have SpaceX. And I’m more than happy to accept unhappy Amazon delivery guys if it means humanity becomes a multiplanetary species. We’re not going to see an exuberant Swedish space colonization effort anytime soon.
Of course, this culture won’t last. Sweden is replacing both the Swedish people and their culture. Shrug.
Jun 022021