Driving on the turnpike recently a state trooper pulled out behind me but passed me and pulled over a (not speeding) coal roller. It was ridiculous: a pick-up that had an exhaust pipe maybe a foot in diameter sticking straight up out of the center of its cab, spewing visible garbage even at slow highway speeds. Sweet schadenfreude. I can't imagine the thought process behind it, without getting into some of the more bitter places the "To Read" thread has gone to.
Not the cab, I meant the truck bed. It was literally making the most functional part of a pick up truck half as useful at best.
When I first read about the "rolling coal" thing, I suspected it was one of those journalistic bogus trends, where they found 1 or 2 lunatics doing it and decided that it was good fodder for a couple of clickbaity stories. The fact that there really do seem to be a (small, but still) non negligible number of people doing it is amazing.
As per 2: "I'll fuck this perfectly good vehicle in order to piss off the imaginary hippies in my head."
Can we please get Obama to do a PSA against eating dog shit?
So they are buying aftermarket emissions bypass kits on Amazon.... Amazon should take some responsibility here and stop selling those.
6 Wouldn't that void your warranty if the vehicle were still under one?
8 So is not eating dog shit.
I want to get this trending.
"I'm Hillary Clinton. Will you join me in fostering a culture of tolerance? Eating dog shit is harmful to our precious diversity, and rips apart the fabric of enlightened communities. It takes away choice from our LGBTQ brothers and sisters of whatever gender just as much as from the young and pregnant. Remember, I am Hillary Clinton, and you should definitely avoid eating dog shit. "
10 would go viral if tweeted or posted on fb.
Damn, I though this would be about coal powered trucks.
On the environment, dated August 1, 2016
Politics and Science of Our Demise ...Guy McPherson discusses a corroborative study by "Sam Carrano."
+8 to 10 degrees Centigrade in the next 8-10 years.
Of course the politics and economics will hit hard before the climate does. That is, war.
Maybe I will watch my diet and exercise so as to be able to watch it as it happens.
Okay, quarter it, say + 5 degrees C over the next twenty years.
Accepting that we are now 1.5 C above baseline, very conservative, numbers are closer to 2, that means say 1 more degree in the next couple years.
And at 2.5 above baseline and rising, we are really seriously fucked, and shit hits the political economy fan.
I bet some significant part of why Americans don't give a shit about global warming is its always presented in those commie centigrade units.
On this particular issue, Americans are indisputably the stupidest. Is there another major rich country where climate change denial is the position of a governing/major party? No. The whole deal with the Paris climate deal was to set things up in a way where the future of the world wouldn't be held up by insane US Republicans.
I bet some significant part of why Americans don't give a shit about global warming is its always presented in those commie centigrade units.
Maybe we should rename it Centiburg.
On this particular issue, Americans are indisputably the stupidest. Is there another major rich country where climate change denial is the position of a governing/major party?
Australia, at least under Abbott.
'major'
Well, it's in the top 15 overall and is the highest per capita emitter outside the Gulf.
My Fox News, Trump voting brother is still looking at buying a house on a barrier island on the space coast of Florida.
22. Encourage him. He might learn something.
I hope it's impossible to get flood insurance. I'm sure he'll complain mightily if it is.
"I'll fuck this perfectly good vehicle in order to piss off the imaginary hippies in my head."
Saw a bumper sticker yesterday, to the effect of "Piss off a liberal, buy a gun." And I'm thinking, you should make a $100+ purchase solely because you imagine that it will sadden a person you're so unfamiliar with that you don't know what makes them unhappy?
I mean, I got gay married solely to annoy conservatives, but I wouldn't spend a lot of money on that sort of thing.
You got gay married on the cheap? Uncool, man. And you in Pittsburgh with its rich marital tradition of cookie-tables.
25 Divorce is expensive. If you really want to annoy conservatives for less money just keep buying gay married wedding cakes.
Don't buy a hundred dollar gun, either to use or annoy.
There really is something in the current moment that has massively unleashed the trolling instinct on a scale hitherto unimaginable. For those inclined towards trolling, the world is the Castro District in 1977, and they are the gay men.
I saw a guy at the beach wearing a t-shirt yesterday that said "Vegetarian: old English word meaning "village idiot too stupid to hunt or fish."
I'm really speechless about how angry this makes me. He's like "I don't know you. I don't even know which person in this crowd at beach you are. But I'm going to insult you."
Yeah, what a moron, everyone knows that the spelling of Vegetarian would be totally different in Old English.
"I don't know you. I don't even know which person in this crowd at beach you are. But I'm going to insult you."
Yeah. You know, the thing is, I can't bring myself to do something like that in return. I just can't do it. I could put all kinds of bumper stickers on my car, or put a Bernie Sanders sign (meaningless now) on my lawn, or wear a t-shirt alleging that meat-eaters are troglodytes or whatever. I can't do it.
And frankly, I think most other Americans can't do it either, so there's that.
His "Save a horse, ride a cowboy" t-shirt was in the laundry.
I'm sure someone here has way better Old English than me, but my dictionary plus half-assed grammar knowledge would make "vegetarian" "aeta wyrtcynrenes," or "eater of the plant world."
OTOH this seems like exactly the kind of thing that some vegetarian medievalist would have figured out and put all over their blog, and "aeta wyrtcynrenes" yields zero google hits, so I'm probably wrong.
I don't know the word, but I'll bet someone speaking Middle English and talking about a vegetarian diet would be doing it in terms of monasticism or Lent.
Middle English for that is probably "pescetarian".
Some desultory googling failed to get me an Old English word for "vegetarian" (or pescatarian for that matter), but I did learn about something else: the "Fish Event Horizon" of about the year 1000. Now you know, the Fish Event Horizon is big news in the world of historical fish studies.
Basically, people in Northwest Europe ate mostly freshwater fish until about the year 1000. Then there was a gigantic change and they started eating marine fish, especially herring, some of which was dried. By the late middle ages it's mostly marine fish and there's a huge trade (e.g. the Hanseatic League). The preference for marine fish seems to be linked to the Vikings, who unsurprisingly were eating lots of marine fish first. So there you go, that's the Fish Event Horizon. Put that on your T-shirt.
Huh, very interesting, and not something I was aware of before. Thanks!
I'm not really clear on why it's an "Event Horizon" but "Fish Event Horizon" just sounds so rad. "Sucked into a black hole ... OF FISH."
Vegetarian should be ALL OVER old English since King Alfred didn't eat meat, I'll find my copy of Bishop Asser's biography. Ancient Greek is ἀποχὴ ἐμψύχων but idk if that goes to biblical Greek-->English. I will complete this fun project and report back.
To bring it back on topic, isn't there another fish event horizon predicted this century, as warming oceans kill most common food species and jellyfish take over? Stories about how our grandkids won't ever eat wild salmon, tuna, etc.
I'm an IDIOT, Asser wrote in Latin, duh.
44: Yes, and the Fish Event Horizon literature seems to be in part an attempt to better understand the history of fish stocks and the effects of human fishing on them, in the context of trying to assess the current status and prospects of fisheries. This paper, for example, is framed that way and published in a journal of biology.
Although (Pacific) wild salmon are not in as much danger as a lot of other species.
46: There's lots of vernacular literature from that period too, of course, so references to Alfred's vegetarianism probably show up somewhere.
You'd think! But AFAIK the Alfred we know really starts with Asser, I'm not familiar with much contemporaneous English writing about Alfred but I'm not an expert just a giddy fangirl. There's a bunch of stuff Alfred or folks around him translated TO English but hmmmmm. Weren't the Cathars vegetarian? There must be someone castigating them for that. But that would probably be in Latin or Langue d'Oc. In the absence of primary sources I say Tigre's translation is canon.
The Inheritance of Rome is quite interesting about Alfred and the extent to which he was influenced by Carolingian ideas about governance, which included extensive interest in and support of scholarship. So yeah, there's a lot of Old English literature that came out of Alfred's court, though I don't know how much of it talks about Alfred personally.
Was Alfred actually a vegetarian, in the sense of refusing to eat meat by choice? I thought he just had a disease. Anyhow, he did a lot of writing in Old English himself.
Googling "Alfred the great vegetarian" does NOT produce a lot of hits, indicating that modern vegetarians need to up their game. "FUCKED WITH THE DANES. ATE ONLY GRAINS." There, vegans, I gave you a meme.
Wickham describes him as "unusually well educated, even by Carolingian standards." He doesn't mention vegetarianism, but he does reference the diseases and notes that they are among the hagiographical tropes Asser uses in the biography, though they could still have been real.
I think leading theory is Crohn's but in a pretty good show about Vikings, The Last Kingdom, it's actually penance for all his fornicating. I don't think any of his own writing is a good source of info about him as a person or of like, recipes, but I would be delighted to learn otherwise. Lollards were vegetarian too (I think) but that would be Middle English.
Sex-negative and liked meat too. I'm thinking Tigre is talking to the wrong demographic here.
No one is in the wrong demographic for a Fish Event Horizon, except fish.
I thought it was just the Medieval Fish Horizon, anyway.
Anyhow, Vegans, here is your King Alfred The Great meme.
But apparently not. Are event horizons common in archaeology? If only our ranks included an itinerant archaeologist.
The term "horizon" is commonly used in archaeology, though not always with the same meaning. I've never encountered "event horizon" before.
59 is the best thing anyone has ever done or will ever do, the rest of us can all stop trying now.
63 the fish horizon or the AtG memes or what?
||
Phyllis Schlafly was still alive?
|>
63 - here's a combo AtG/fish event horizon meme.
According to Wikipedia, she still is.
I think it's just "aeta wyrte", eater of vegetables/herbs, no need to fool around with the Kingdom of Plants. Of course, if that's not Old Englishy enough it could be braede grig, flesh coward.
68: The NYT disagrees, but then as we've discussed they've had some issues lately.
At least she lived to see the most sexist presidential candidate in her lifetime.
I think by definition everyone lives to see the most x of everything in their lifetimes.
"Braede grig" is so great. Also translatable as "fearer of roasts."
flesh coward
On the t-shirts, I'm sure it was.
I'm not afraid of roasts. I'm waiting for the discovery of pepper.
Since I have a new skill, here's an Alfred the Great meme about Phyllis Schlalfy.
I searched "Alfred the Great" on meme generator.
I know the thread's moved on from discussing things done to annoy the Other, but I wanted to admit that sometimes I drive the speed limit in the passing lane.
If you wanted to do a "Scumbag Steve" about Eadric Streona, somebody got there first./a>
Somebody should print a bunch of these on acid-free paper, wrap them in leather, and bury them somewhere near the Bodleian.
74, et seq: I aint afraid of no roasts.
How is the fish horizon weird?
I guess it was more the juxtaposition with other topics.
I tried to start an appropriate Australia-hate thread, but no one bit.
I was briefly considering 59 for a Twitter avatar swap but what about leafy greens and vegetables?
I was briefly considering bringing my Twitter account out of hibernation to share 59 but my self-protective instincts kicked in.
Tigre has definitely found his forte.
82: I only do it when there's a BMW behind me.
93 Audis too I hope. They're the new BMWs.
I fuck up my priestly-divination-by-inspection-of-assholes joke by mistaking Latin for Greek and writing "proktospex" rather than "anuspex". Soon afterwards, the same mix-up between languages happens to Ms Stabby in re a bishop (hence priest) named... Asser. Coincidence? I think not.
You don't know your ass from your πῆχυς.
An "anuspex" is someone who examines old ladies?
I have a doctor's appointment in an hour and it looks like the Mineshaft has all gone to bed.
I'm here. How did your thing go?
Ok I guess. Though she quickly changed the subject and I foolishly more or less let her. Will have another chance at bat though.
I mean it was arbitrary from the main board and she didn't have a choice except to choose whose neck it fell upon. At least it will be harder to do next year when it's time again.
--'
This election. Cannot wait for it to be over.
This election. Cannot wait for it to be over.
I hear ya. Jesus Christ.
Better an end filled with absurdity than absurdity without end.
Yeah, but it's not clear which one we're going to get.
Mildly surprised not to see a NMM announcement for you know who. Is it that unthinkable?
I'm mostly just not fully on board with the concept.
109 Nor am I in the least but surely there must be one lurking reprobate among us.
It does seem like a situation where a person might be more likely to start Ming out of spite.
No, I mean, I'm not totally on board with the "NMM" concept at all.
Who among us hasn't wanted to Cleopatrabate, but been forbidden from doing so by the repressive NMM regime?
Spite Ming.The lonelier less morally problematic counterpart to the Hate F.
113 Or Lady Hamilton (the only Hamilton for me.)
I'm pretty sure that JP Stormcrow left us because he wanted to M big time to Edith Bolling Galt Wilson.
There's got to be a "Ming the Merciless" joke here somewhere.
117: Wikipedia still seems to have no uncunting reference still, so clearly his quest continues.
Alfred the Great has let us know what he thinks re this issue
If only there were some way to edit Wikipedia.
Meanwhile, as a trade-name for the chillier and less well-upholstered companion item to the Fleshlight, "Ming Vase" remains up for grabs.
There's a roaming free coffee cart at this hospital.
The autonomous-vehicles revolution rolls on.
Barista be rolling it. (They call them "tea boys" here, something I don't think I will ever get used to).
They're young men, and occasionally women. As an American born native English speaker I just don't ever want to be in a position where I am calling a young man, invariably a POC, "boy".
They're called "tea ladies" here, where they exist.
128: Surely you don't actually have to address the barista directly that way?
132 Of course not, at work he's Gurney but at other places where I don't know and and in the third person people say "tea boy" and I'm all like barista or coffee dude.
132 Of course not, at work he's Gurney but at other places where I don't know and and in the third person people say "tea boy" and I'm all like barista or coffee dude.
133 but my privilege is one of my perks.*
Which explains a lot about this place.
I knew the place was bad, but reducing Gurney Halleck to a tea-wallah is just beyond the pale.
129: There is a story in Bertrand Russell's history of western philosophy that when his landlady (to whom he owed money) died, he wrote in his diary obit anus, abit onus which BR left untranslated in the footnote
137 Couldn't find another House Atreides servant name. Or servant like at least.
Chai wallah does seem to be the obvious compromise. Or coffee wallah if it's actually coffee.
139: "Shadout" would seem the obvious one.
("It means 'server of tea'. Among the Fremen this is a title of great significance.")
Or alternatively an epithet. I suggest Abu Teatrolley.
Shadout, of course. I confess it's been over 20 years since I've read the book but circumstances compel me to a re-read soon.
Shadout, of course. I confess it's been over 20 years since I've read the book but circumstances compel me to a re-read soon.
Schopenhauer's Anus: the Story of a Ten-minute Argument Lying at the Fundament of Modern Thought
I'm going to pitch it as Wittgenstein's Poker meets "Shakespeare's Sister".
You can gauge my productivity at work today by the fact that I've spent the last ten minutes googling trying to fit a good taint joke to riff of 145.
Nietzsche's Taint: Syphilis and Genius
You've given me my sequel right there.
OT: Because of repairs to an attached parking garage, my building is shaking like an Oklahoma gas field. This isn't helping me focus. It's more noticeable than the strongest earthquake I've experienced. Admittedly, that was a really weak earthquake.
My nights were sour, spent with Schopenhauer.
AtG meme BLOWING UP on my FB and Instagram and these aren't even nerds like me. Do they know what they're liking? IDK. Not sure how to credit it but specified NOT MINE.
Apparently, not shoveling money to private colleges is unconstitutional.
One man's "waste, fraud, and abuse" is another man's salary.
Sure, I said we could balance the budget by cutting waste, but not MY waste!
On further reflection and with the assistance of people who are always right, I would like to note that in 152 "private" should read "for profit."
I regret the error.
We humbly note and accept your groveling. Carry on.
