So this happened yesterday…
Yikes.
Worse is the fact that he made this terrible, horrible, awful joke with the President Jackson portrait hanging behind him.
Double yikes.
This is Naked Gun level stupidity, only nowhere near as funny…
We truly live in interesting/shit-your-pants-scary times.
Over on CNN.com, I found this story, written by Kaori Enjoji and James Griffiths…
Ghost ships wash up in Japan with skeletons on board
Here’s a photo from the article, showing one of the ships that grounded ashore…
So, what’s this about?
The article (I don’t want to give it all away, so if you are interested please click on that link and read!), notes that the ships are thought to come from North Korea and the reason they’re showing up has to do with the ugly conditions in the country: Food is scarce and the country has allowed more and more people to fish for their food… and many of these people do not know and/or do not have the proper experience to do so.
They sail out and get lost or lose control of their vessel in the currents/weather and become lost and unable to save themselves.
A horrible, horrible way to die.
The article truly sends chills down my spine.
Hope everyone had a great time with family and friends and acquaintances and didn’t bring up any politics.
That’s a sure way to destroy one’s evening!
As for me, I didn’t eat all that much but nonetheless managed to have enough turkey and the triptophan found in it that by the time it got dark I fell in the bed and crashed so hard that…
What’s that?
You say that the triptophan in the turkey isn’t the reason people get so tired? According to Kevin Bennett of Pennsylvania State University, it isn’t the cause and he wrote the following article to prove this…
Snooze after eating the bird? Don’t blame triptophan
Here’s the money quote from the above article:
There are far more important factors leading to those post-turkey comas, not least of which is Uncle Clarence’s story about parking at the airport. Add that to free-flowing booze combined with a load of carbohydrates followed by plenty more booze and you have a fool-proof recipe for dozing off on the couch.
Welp, I don’t drink alcohol so “booze” wasn’t a factor for me. I guess it was the carbs?
Regardless, hope everyone had a great time!
Is it just me or does it appear every famous/sorta-famous male out there is a creep?
I’m glad women are, in this day and age, empowered to speak up about these things which, sadly, in the past were brushed under the rug. I’m also alternately enraged and shaking my head at the growing list of people who have been accused of these types of acts. Though clearly some of the revealed actions are far more heinous than others, I hope my fellow men view this as a teachable moment.
Men, think about what you’ve done in the past. Take a good, hard look in the mirror and see if any of your actions when you were younger or -the Gods forbid- recently might fall into the category of sexual harassment or -the Gods forbid redux- assault.
And for fuck’s sake: Don’t do this sort of crap. Don’t ever do this type of crap. Behave.
Behave.
At this point, either you do this or prepare yourself to face some potentially huge consequences.
With all the current news regarding sexual harassment, I was reminded of the first time an incident which could be defined as such was brought to my attention… and how shocked I was to find out about it.
It was the mid-1990’s, so I can claim some excuse in being younger/more naive/stupider then. It was a Comic Book Convention I attended, among the first where I attended as a “Pro” guest.
Being a “Pro” guest meant you interacted more with other “Pros”. In that particular convention, I had the unique privilege and thrill to meet up with several people who, to me, were incredibly gifted and whose works entertained the hell out of me over the years before.
In this particular convention there was a very, very legendary comic book figure, one who was in the business for many years and was behind and/or responsible for many very memorable events during practically her entire history.
Frankly, I was gobsmacked that I could actually meet and interact with this legend and mentioned it to the two people I was with at that moment.
One of the pros I was with, a woman who made a name for herself over the previous years with various successful projects, reacted in a most negative way to my comment.
Though it happened many years ago and I don’t recall the exact words, she essentially told me this individual -this comic book legend!- was a creep, a man who was, as defined by today’s headlines, a sexual harasser. One who had, to my horror, harassed her.
I came away from this conversation with the realization of something I’ve come to know all too well since that time: Sometimes the art is very different from the artist.
Now, I could name names and tell you who this legendary figure is and who the woman accusing him of harassment was but I feel its best I don’t. Understand, I’m not trying to be coy or engage in some childish “I’ve got a secret” type thing.
The fact of the matter is that this happened a very long time ago and, as I mentioned above, I can only go by my impressions rather than specific words told to me by the lady in question. Still, my impression hasn’t changed that this woman genuinely felt the man was a creep.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, though this woman was clearly seething and willing to tell a stranger (who I was to her at that moment!) her very negative impressions of that man, I don’t know what happened afterwards and, for all I know, things might well have changed.
While perhaps unlikely, this woman might have had more interactions with this comic book legend and maybe her opinion of him changed. It is possible the man acted bad on the day(s) she formed her negative impressions of him and maybe he eventually realized the error of his ways and apologized to her.
These are things I don’t know!
The woman in question is still around while that legendary comic book figure has since passed.
Perhaps in this day and age, this woman might come forward to offer her opinions of this man or any other(s) who have shown such creepy behavior toward her.
I hope she -and anyone else who was mistreated by those in power- do so.
In all fields, including the comic book field, it is high time bad behavior –especially bad behavior which crosses the line into outright criminal behavior- was treated for what it is and for those who have engaged in it be called out for what they are.
Creeps.
Big time politics here, so look away if you’re not interested in reading my opinion of these issues…
The other day Sean Hannity, right wing apologist and another of the too many right wing machine over at Fox “News”, had controversial Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore on his show.
For those who don’t know, Roy Moore is controversial for a number of things, from going against Supreme Court rulings to -this is the latest controversy- having sex with teenage women/girls as young as 14 years of age when he was in his (gulp) thirties.
He’s being accused by women who are willing to put their name to the accusations of engaging in pedophilia.
So of course, when Mr. Moore shows up on Sean Hannity’s show, the questions are softballs and the purpose of the episode is to give Mr. Moore a platform to prove he’s a good guy and the accusations aren’t true.
He didn’t quite do that… From vox.com, Jen Kirby writes about that interview, and the one startling thing he had to say when asked if he dated teenagers at that time:
Roy Moore on whether he dated teenage girls: “Not generally, no”.
Way to issue a strong denial there, Mr. Moore!
As a result of that interview, and the way it was performed by Mr. Hannity, people started flooded some of his sponsors with letters/tweets/etc. asking them how they can continue to sponsor a show where its host seeks to show someone like Mr. Moore in a positive light.
Among the companies that were contacted was Keurig, coffee machine makers. In a tweet regarding whether they would continue to support Mr. Hannity’s show after that interview, Keurig stated:
Thank you for your concern and for bringing this to our attention. We worked with our media partner and FOX news to stop our ad from airing during the Sean Hannity Show.
As with any action, there is a reaction, and one of the big reactions from fans of Hannity’s show is to slam Keurig and, idiotically, decide to destroy their Keurig coffee making machines. Tom McKay over at gizmodo.com writes about this:
Angry Sean Hannity fans are smashing Keurigs on Twitter because 2017 is dumb as heck
But you know what? Dumb as it is to decide to protest Keurig (and liberals, I suppose) by destroying your Keurig machine is just another iteration of dumb protesting.
Way, way back in 1976 and when Blue Oyster Cult first released their song “Don’t Fear The Reaper” (you know, the cowbell song!)…
…there was a great deal of controversy amongst the very religious/right wingers out there about it.
Why?
Because the song’s lyrics refer to death in many incarnations and states “don’t fear the reaper” when referring to, among others, “Romeo and Juliet.” To many, the implication was clear: The song promoted death and suicide and, therefore, it was a sinful song. (Didn’t help that Blue Oyster Cult cultivated a dark image)
So controversial amongst the religious/right wingers was the song and album in which it came on that one day this group has a big BOC bonfire, wherein people brought the vinyl albums and burned them.
To which one of the members of BOC (I forget which) was quoted as saying something along the lines of: “I don’t care what they do to our albums… as long as they buy them first!”
I suspect Keurig is feeling the same.
If you’ve been reading/watching the news lately, between stories involving Russians, Trump’s latest stupidity, Sexual Assault, and as much depressing shit as you can handle, came the news that Libertarian Senator Rand Paul was tackled by his next door neighbor while cutting his lawn and suffered several broken ribs.
The cause of the attack remains a head-scratching puzzle. Early word came out that this involved -of all things- landscaping issues. Mr. Paul was mowing his lawn, after all, when he was attacked.
This was quickly disputed, but no reason was given for why the attack took place, either by the attacker or the victim.
Over at theslot.com, author Ellie Shechet offers a quick recap of the whole weird affair and wonders…
What the Frick Is Going On With Rand Paul and His Neighbor, Someone Tell Me Right Now
I was very amused by the comments after the article. Several people have noted they think the source of the animosity between Paul and his neighbor is something more deeply personal… perhaps even sexual.
That perhaps Mr. Paul overstepped his boundaries and/or has had trysts with his neighbor’s wife or daughter or what-have-you.
This is clearly nothing more than the rankest of rank speculation, yet one can’t help but wonder why both the neighbor and Mr. Paul are so very reluctant to get into the details of why they had this confrontation.
A weird story that, by virtue of its timing, is essentially being buried under an avalanche of other stories.
Rather scary article written by Rob Price and found on businessinsider.com regarding ex-Facebook president Sean Parker and some rather scary things he has to say about our social media platforms like the one that he was president of:
The “money” quote from the article is posted on the headline above, that Mr. Parker notes that these platforms were developed with the express idea of becoming addictive to its users. This from Mr. Parker:
The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them … was all about: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?
Not all that long ago I recall watching a TV program (60 Minutes? I’m not certain) about cellphones and social media and it was noted by the person who was being interviewed that there is a science behind many of the programs, like Facebook, that draw masses of people to them, and that the model for drawing people to them is very similar to that of…
…wait for it…
Gambling.
Mr. Parker further states:
And that means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever. And that’s going to get you to contribute more content, and that’s going to get you … more likes and comments.
It’s a social-validation feedback loop … exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.
In other words, these platforms are built to not only get you on them with their various bells and whistles, but keep you on them once you’ve tasted their wares.
I have to say, like Mr. Parker I do wonder what effect this will have on people growing up with these services.
As someone who didn’t grow up with them, there have been plenty of times I’ve forgotten to take my cellphone with me to places and the biggest inconvenience, to me, is the fact that I subsequently couldn’t make a call from my car.
My daughters, on the other hand, have their cellphones essentially attached to them. One day, one of them forgot to take it with her to a store. It was, to her, an incredible, mind-blowing thing to have forgotten!
Here’s the thing, though: As the science of getting people essentially “addicted” to these various platforms becomes sharper and more effective, is it possible people will no longer be able to function, at all, without their cell phones and the social platform programs?
One wonders.
A while since I’ve talked about one of my favorite real-world subjects: autonomous vehicles.
The following article, written by Madison Park and appearing on CNN, is one of those stories that seem to be delivered by the Gods above…
Self-Driving Bus Involved in Accident on its First Day
The bus in question, which is running in Las Vegas, looks like this:
So, based on the story title, one could be forgiven for thinking that the cause of the accident was -slap your forehead- the self-driving bus and its software.
Nope.
What happened, and sorry for giving it all away, was that the driver of a truck who was backing up didn’t see the bus, which had properly stopped, and wound up scrapping its front side. No one was hurt, the damage was minor, and the driver of the truck was ticketed for failure to notice the car while backing up.
Though one does wonder: If the bus was responsible, who would be ticketed then?!
I kid, I kid.
Still, one can’t help but shake one’s head at stories like this. The roll out of self-driving vehicles has begun and, naturally, one the first day of use of this particular new service, of course there would be a crash.
I don’t get this fascination with guns.
I’ve said it before. There are violent films and video games I’ve both enjoyed and enjoy.
But these things are fantasy.
In “real life” I find guns, especially some of the military grade ones out there, incredibly scary. I’ve fired real guns before -target practice no more- but never felt the thrill many others seem to have with such things.
I’m also not a hunter nor do I live in the rough where I may need such a weapon to protect myself from predatory animals.
The politicians, predictably, are once again doing their “prayers and thoughts” statements to those who lost loved ones. Donald Trump, predictably, brushes off any notion that this is a gun issue, instead stating this is a mental health issue… which would be fine except it conveniently ignores the fact that this shooter, and too many before him, had access to weapons that by all rights should only be in military hands.
History repeats itself and one wonders when the next one will happen.
Such bullshit.