Kekistan

 art, awesomeness, blather, Crazy, Forward!, Hmm..., humor, politics, THIS is why Trump won, youtube  4 Responses »
Jun 032017
 

I’ve been watching the rise of Kek & Kekistan for the last several months with what can best be described as “bemusement.” If you are unaware of Kek/Kekistan… first, where the hell have you been? Second, the easiest way to think of Kek it to think back to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. FSM and the Church of the FSM were created as satire, a way to poke creationists with a pointy stick. They use they same lame-brained arguments in favor of teaching “intelligent design” by introducing a wholly ridiculous pseudo-religion that is just as valid an explanation at the traditional “creationist” explanations.

Kek/Kekistan is the same sort of idea, but instead of aimed at creationism, it’s aimed at political correctness and current Leftist extremism. The idea seemed to have arisen after it was pointed out that online trolls -specifically “sh*tposters” who tend to go after social justice warriors – qualify as an ethnic group under British law. What seems to typify Kekistanis is a willingness, nay, a gleeful enthusiasm, to poke the PC talking point of the day, to take the big scary moral panic and wear it like a party hat. The biggest symbol of this is Pepe The Frog. Originally a conventional cartoon character, it was turned into a meme For All Purposes. But since it was *also* sometimes used by members of the alt-Right, many on the far left freaked directly out and declared that Pepe was a symbol of white supremacy/nationalism. If the Left had ignored it, Pepe would have faded away. But they couldn’t let it go, so the alt-Right took it and ran with it. And now Pepe has gone through an apotheosis, turning into Kek (a frog-headed Egyptian god and symbol of the Kekistanis). This is a defining feature of the Kekistanis; the thing you freak out about the most is the thing they’re going to proudly wave as a banner. Call them Nazis and they will start waving swastikas around. Scream at them that they’re racist, and you’ll be bombarded with a million racist memes. The flag of Kekistan is now a green, modified version of a Nazi-era German military flag. The motive isn’t, I think, to actually be racist, but to irritate the hell out of the people who too easily toss such accusations about. The moment you see something and say “that’s not funny,” they’ll take it as a challenge. Too soon for Hitler jokes? Guess what’s coming.

If nothing else, Kekistan is a stellar example of basic human nature. The left demands that certain ideas, thoughts, images and symbols be never allowed. They demand that identity politics be held up as inviolable and divine. And the Kekistanis, being human, respond to such demands as the best of all humans do… with an upraised middle finger. For decades the PC brigade has used beratement and browbeating to bully people into not speaking up, and this sort of thing – and the election of the idiot buffoon Trump – is the natural response. And at least unlike the anti-Trumpers, the Kekistanis are generally funny and non-violent.

On my recent trip to the USAF Museum in Dayton, somewhere along the line I stopped and had a Kek spotting out in the wild:

The video below is a satire of the sort of thing MSNBC would put out about Kekistan. And it takes a good long while to be obvious that it’s *not* straight outta MSNBC.

Insofar as there is an ideology, it seems to be something that was virtually inevitable. For my entire adult life I’ve seen the PC fascists trying to control actions, thought and speech; the lefties should be damned grateful that the result seems to be this satirical response rather than a boot to the head.

Here’s a description of the Kekistanis from the guy who essentially created ’em, YouTuber Sargon of Akkad:

 Posted by at 3:29 pm

ISIS Condemns Kathy Griffin

 humor, politics  1 Response »
Jun 032017
 

Ha. Military-style satire.

ISIS condemns Kathy Griffin for cultural appropriation

The self-proclaimed Islamic State has issued a statement condemning self-proclaimed comedian Kathy Griffin, accusing her of “cultural appropriation” after she posed for a photograph with a mock severed head of President Donald Trump.

The group, which has been protective of its brand ever since taking over vast swaths of Iraq and Syria and establishing itself as the premier beheading agency in the Middle East, said it was deeply disturbed by Griffin’s “ignorant and offensive” use of a “sacred Islamic State tradition.”

…

“Of course, the West’s social justice ‘warriors’ have always been our ally, and once again, they did not disappoint. We’re thankful that our fatwa friends immediately identified her offensive appropriation of one of our most cherished rituals,” said Aahil al-Raqqa, an executioner for the group.

Heh. The Duffle Blog is usually pretty good; this one nails it.

Others:

Navy unable to locate clitoral combat ship

Coast Guard under fire for saving too many straight white males

Army Welcomes First Openly Transgender Military Working Dogs

Riot breaks out at Fort Hood dining facility after menu promises chocolate milf

World Begs U.S. To Use Military Force in Syria So They Can Bitch About It Later

Air Force to allow average looking, uncool people to become fighter pilots

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. — Due to manning cuts and years of major airliners paying higher wages for sweet abs, the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command may begin allowing normal-looking people become fighter pilots as early as 2020, sources…
 Posted by at 12:16 am

two°C: The Most Uplifting Short You’ll See Today

 art, blather, Hmm..., news, politics, science, science fiction, youtube  3 Responses »
Jun 022017
 

This purports to show the effect of sea level rise on new York City after two°C of temperature increase. This is of course relevant today since Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Accord/Agreement/Anything-But-A-Treaty, which would have accomplished nothing because its strictures on the US were minimal and nonexistent on the likes of China and India, both of which are far greater “carbon footprint” threats going forward than the US.  Additionally, since Trump made his announcement a number of US cities and states have come together to say they are going to reduce CO2 by the US’s agreed-upon amount anyway… which shows that it’s not the FedGuvs job in the first place.

Anyway, the video. It’s technically really good; the water in the streets looks real. I’ve seen some people claim that the water levels are inconsistent from street to street, but I don’t know NYC, so I can’t comment on that. I’ve also seen people comment that this is some terrifying vision of the future, but I honestly don’t see it. For starters, the ocean level rise shown here is what you might expect after a century or more. And if NYC does anything, it’s knock down old stuff and build new stuff. Sea level rise like this in a century? Not a problem. Secondly: I’m forever hearing New Yorkers whine about traffic. Well… here ya go! The city streets are now cleared off not only of cars, but of junkies and bums. Plus, look at the buildings, water or no: most of them look like, well, “tenements.” Horrifyingly soul-crushing people-warehouses. The city just looks *ugly.*  From the looks of it, most of NYC getting washed away could only improve the joint.

AND ANOTHER THING:

The radio and TV talking heads keep yapping about how the US is abandoning “leadership” of fixing climate change to the likes of China. Ummmm…. how, exactly? Before this, American tech firms, science labs and universities would invent some spiffy new PV cell or improvement thereupon, the Chinese would promptly Culturally Appropriate it and mass produce the hell out of them via slave labor and crappy environmental regulations, flooding the market with PV arrays so cheap that it doesn’t make sense to manufacture them in the US. After Trump’n’Paris… how’s this going to be different? What *exactly* was the US FedGuv going to do otherwise that would have been so important that American companies, if it made any economic sense at all, weren’t going to do anyway? Before this, was the US government going to crank out terawatt-class thorium reactors by the cargo ship load, but now they’re not?

 Posted by at 10:02 pm

Not all cats make good pets

 blather, cats, Gah., humor, youtube  5 Responses »
Jun 022017
 

The essence of maturity is not only knowing when to deny yourself, it’s doing so.

As an example, may I present this video of a caracal kitten making the oddest, cutest noise to attract its humans attention in order to feed it:

Now, what sort of inhuman monster looks at that and says to themselves, “naw, I have no interest in that beast.” But here’s the thing: caracal kittens grow up. And when they do and it’s time for foodening, you get this:

And you can see that this animal is *not* what you’d call exactly domesticated. There are several noises contained here that should be enough to convince a wise person that this is not a pet to keep. Not least of which is the sound of bones being *crushed.*

 Posted by at 8:29 pm

I *SO* want this on Blu-Ray

 art, awesomeness, history, Hmm..., nukes, youtube  5 Responses »
Jun 022017
 

An absolutely crappy copy of an old Lookout Mountain nuclear detonation compilation film. But even though the resolution is low and the original film is in terrible shape, it’s absolutely fargin’ amazing. Included are several shots of something I’d not recognized before… smoke generators. They’d shoot a plume of smoke into the air just before detonation, then the shock wave would come rolling by and… well, see for yourself. The rockets we’ve all seen before, but the smoke plumes are more rarely shown.

If someone were to get the original negative of this and do the Trinity & Beyond cleanup… shut up and take my money.

 Posted by at 12:57 am

Here’s your 80’s flashback for today

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, blather, history, science fiction  22 Responses »
Jun 012017
 

When it first aired, “Airwolf” was undeniable awesomeness. As with so many things, it doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny *now;* much of it is just terribly dated. But at the time? That helicopter, with the added jet engines, styling by the fella what who designed the Enterprise-D, and deployable weapons that broke the laws of physics (telescoping machine gun barrels… always good for a laugh)? Best thing to hit the skies in the 80’s.

The theme music was also something very much of its era.

I’m not generally a fan of remakes. But here’s something that, done right, *could* actually make for a damn fine new series. It should be a reboot, not a “thirty-five years later” sequel (if for no other reason, so nobody even *thinks* about trying to get Jan Michael Vincent onto the set. Yeeesh). And with that… what should the “Airwolf 2018” be based on? The original Airwolf was a Bell 222 with fiberglass cosmetic alterations. And spiffy as it was, a modern helicopter should be used. But let’s face it: there aren’t really a whole lot of new helicopters that are more futuristic looking than the Bell 222. And I’ll storm off the set in a huff if they tell me “we’ve decided to go entirely CGI with the chopper.”

Obviously the new Airwolf should be based on a helicopter that is not immediately recognizable to the bulk of the TV-watching public. You’re not going to fool the aviation geeks, so don’t even try. A few suggestions:

Kamov KA-52 “Alligator”

OK, sure, it’s Russian. But face it: most Americans wouldn’t recognize it, and it’s *damn* spiffy. And being Russian, I’ve little doubt that Hollywood could buy a half dozen of ’em, with all the spare parts and tech support they might need, for reasonable sums.

The Bell 525 “Relentless”

Bigger than the 222, but clearly designed with similar aesthetics. It’d make for a more capacious Airwolf, capable of carrying substantial cargo & passenger loads… perhaps it could carry an ED-209 as standard equipment. The 525 is still in prototype, awaiting certification, so that might be a little bit of an issue.

Sikorsky S-97 “Raider”

Now this would be cool. And since it’s a terribly expensive prototype still in testing, very unlikely.

Bell V-280 “Valor”

Airwolf wouldn’t necessarily need to be a helicopter. A tiltrotor might do the job, and the V-280 looks promising. Small problem: the V-290 hasn’t actually flown yet, though it should soon. Something that can be done with this: do as with the original Airwolf and add some fiberglass “turbojets” to the fuselage, say, at the wing root. Then when the thing goes into high speed flight, do some CGI tinkering and show the proprotors stop and then fold back.

 

Suggestions? What other choppers would fit for a revived “Airwolf?”

 Posted by at 10:28 am

Holy crap… I’ve written a novel!

 awesomeness, blather, books, My Fiction, news, science fiction  3 Responses »
Jun 012017
 

Tonight I tapped out the final sentence on my tome. All told… 137,000 words, or about 450 pages in a standard novel format. Yeesh.

And then came the question… “now what.” I’m going to spend the next few months editing, which will probably mostly entail making relatively minor corrections. Then it’ll get passed on and supposedly, hopefully, read by A Science Fiction Author Y’all Have Heard Of. Hopefully he’ll not throw it in the trash. And then… who knows. Maybe it’ll be good.

 Posted by at 12:22 am
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