Cleopatra

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., history, politics, Worldwreckers, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 142023
 

Netflix will be releasing a “documentary” about Queen Cleopatra VII. This “documentary” is apparently based on the fictional notion that she was a sub-Saharan African. This is a long-debunked and remarkably silly idea, but welcome to 2023, I guess. Here’s a good takedown:

When you race swap enough fictional characters, you start in on race swapping the historical characters. then you re-write history entirely. then you *erase* and *invent* history. And then society is whatever those in power want it to be.

 Posted by at 11:12 pm

True Detective: Night Country

 art, Hmm..., youtube  No Responses »
Apr 142023
 

Season One of HBO’s “True Detective” was *spectacular* television. Seasons 2 and 3… not so much (hell, I barely remember them… not sure I finished either season). But Season 4 looks promising again:

 

 Posted by at 8:16 pm

Racism-Industrial Complex

 Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 142023
 

When you need a lot of racism, but society just isn’t producing it anymore… you manufacture it.

Former Florida State Professor Pushed Doctored Data to Create False Sense of Racism

Several studies conducted by Eric Stewart, a former professor at Florida State University, were found to have been doctored to create the impression that the public wanted harsher sentences for black and Hispanic Americans, when in reality, the opposite was true.

Huh. That’s an odd thing to do. Why would a professor commit academic fraud in order to invent racist attitudes?

Stewart, a highly regarded professor at Florida State University with expertise in the intersection of race and criminal justice … held a job as a professor at Florida State University from 2016 to 2022, with a recent 2022 record showing a salary of $189,604.94, which is significantly higher than the average pay for co-workers and the national average for government employees. In 2019, he earned $103,458 as a professor. 

Hmm. Nope, got nuthin’.  It’s a mystery.

 Posted by at 1:54 pm

“Ultra Right Beer”

 blather, Hmm..., news, politics  No Responses »
Apr 132023
 

Conservative activist launches ‘Ultra Right’ beer as rival to Bud Light after Dylan Mulvaney controversy

I’m amused by this, but also very, very dubious of long-term success. I don’t know from developing a beer brand from scratch, but I suspect it’s not something you can slap together at a moments notice. I suspect developing a *good* beer is a process that takes a lot of time, trouble, money and expertise… not to mention infrastructure.

I get the idea of developing a “non-woke” counter to large corporations that hate you. But I’ve also seen a lot of “right wing/Christian” movies. Or to be more accurate, I’ve seen a few minutes of a number of these entertainment products… and those few minutes were generally painful. When your *primary* goal is Messaging rather than Good Product, you tend to end up with crap. Hollywood is coasting on decades of building up the infrastructure and talent for Good Product; the Message came to dominate after the process for good entertainment-making was already in place. A “right wing beer” sounds like the sort of thing that will be released long before it’s actually a *good* beer, will disappoint the intended fanbase, and fade into oblivion, leaving the supposed market to be dominated by the corporations that were meant to be challenged in the first place.

 Posted by at 8:32 pm

A good ruling

 awesomeness, news, politics, weapons  No Responses »
Apr 122023
 

As a non-user of mind-altering substances… good:

Federal Judge Tosses Gun Possession Case Against Drug Users

“In short, the historical tradition of disarming ‘unlawful’ individuals appears to mainly involve disarming those convicted of serious crimes after they have been afforded criminal process,” Judge Cardone wrote in her opinion. “Section 922(g)(3), in contrast, disarms those who engage in criminal conduct that would give rise to misdemeanor charges, without affording them the procedural protections enshrined in our criminal justice system.”

As with “red flag laws,” a case can be made for disarming someone. But that case requires the rule of law, the presumption of innocence, due process, the right of the accused to put up a defense. Just yeeting someones rights Because Reasons is unAmerican. And taking someones guns because they smoke dope is pretty stupid when we *don’t* take someones guns because they drink alcohol. I’ve seen drunks, and I’ve seen stoners… and I know which of the two I’d consider more chill, more likely to just sit there and gnaw on some Cheetos, and which group would be more likely to fly into an irrational rage.

 Posted by at 10:57 pm

A bit of a problem with security

 dumbassery, I'm from the government, news, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 122023
 

Security fears mount after top-secret Biden Belfast visit plan found in street

I gotta say, I’ve never come across top secret documents about ongoing Presidential security matters just flopping about on the road. The story is unclear, but this seems to be an Irish document rather than a White House document. Which, given this White House, is honestly a bit surprising.

 Posted by at 10:35 pm

Some “grim” good news

 awesomeness, Forward!, Hmm..., politics, weapons  No Responses »
Apr 112023
 

The Grim Truth: The War on Guns Is Lost

The author of this New Republic piece seems close to tears that:

  • Millions of Americans are exercising their basic rights
  • The Supreme Court recognizes their basic rights
  • Americans keep voting for enough politicians who understand the Constitution to keep the tyrants somewhat at bay.

This is one of those cases where reference to “liberal tears” is wholly legitimate. The author sees the idea of Americans being allowed to own standard firearms as a horrible tragedy, a failure of the police state she would prefer we lived in. The only hope she seems to have is in a “National Divorce.”

 

However, chances are quite good that the despair is performative. Take a look at the listing of the other New Republic pieces written by this author; they are all leftist black pills. Republicans either live rent free in her head, or she’s paying the rent by ginning up fear of Republicans.

Shrug.

 Posted by at 2:35 pm

No, not *at* *all* creepifyin’ and disturbin’

 AARRRGH, blather, Crazy, Gah., Hmm..., politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 082023
 

So there I am minding my own business when a text message comes in from my dad. Nothing unusual there. But the message is long, rambling, kinda stream-of-consciousness, seemingly part of a conversation I wasn’t a part of. I have received messages meant for other people before, but the format of the message, and the length of it, were quite unlike my dad’s normal type of messages. So I send him a “WTF” response. A few minutes later, clarification: the phone *listened* to my dad as he held a conversation with someone else, transcribed both sides of the conversation into a single kinda gibberishy paragraph, and then decided to send that transcript to me.

At no point in the process was my dad clued in to this; the phone did it itself.

So… who else gets these transcripts? The NSA? FBI? IRS? The Russians? And as seems most likely, the Chinese?

Something to keep in mind: if your phone, or Alexa, Siri, HAL, or any other modern device *can* hear you, it *does* hear you. And sometimes it does stuff with what it hears.

 

Now pardon me while I wrap my cell phone in a few layers of tinfoil.

 Posted by at 1:49 pm
 Older Entries  Newer Entries