Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return. – Genesis 3:19
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the solemn liturgical season of Lent; because Church doctrine formerly forbade the eating of meat (and other indulgences) during the season, “Fat Tuesday” was a sort of last goodbye to meat and other pleasures for the next six weeks. Even the word carnival (whose meaning has shifted a great deal in English, especially American English) was originally derived from the Old Italian carne levare, “taking meat away”. And though I’m no longer Catholic, I think the modern world has suffered for the lack of holidays like Ash Wednesday and the Day of the Dead, which were intended to remind us of our own mortality; certainly little tin gods and “safety”-hysterics alike could benefit from such rituals at least semi-annually. In keeping with that thought, today’s first video (which I discovered on EconJeff‘s website) is a reminder that even one of the great necessities of life can kill you.
Everything down to that video was provided by this week’s top contributor, Jesse Walker; those between the videos were contributed by Popehat (“Twitter felony” and “pulp generator”), Radley Balko (“forbidden fun” and “insane judge”), Dean Clark (“cops at play”), Amy Alkon (“imaginary weapons” and “TSA generator”), Nun Ya (“cop gropes woman” and “illiterate librarian”), Grace (“handicapped parking”), Aspasia (“spiders”), and Franklin Harris (“Mr. Rogers”).
- Tyrannical valentines.
- Cops pretending to be dead kids.
- It’s nice to see democracy beat fascism once in a while.
- Only Republican maps have the magical power to force people to do evil.
- Arizona politician wants to criminalize parody Twitter accounts, while one in Georgia claims that “No one has a right to make fun of anyone.”
- Entire Miami police squad fired after video shows cops shopping, dining and snogging while ignoring 911 calls.
- High school student suspended for picture of a weapon, and a second-grader for a wholly imaginary one.
- Cop follows pregnant woman, restrains and gropes her, then tries to talk his way into her house.
- Workers paint “handicapped parking” markings around woman’s car, then have it towed.
- Judge declared insane and therefore fit to return to the bench.
- How an illiterate librarian foiled the book-burners.
- The pogrom of August 1st, 1988.
- Welcome to our world.
- It’s raining spiders in Brazil.
- The TSA statement generator.
- Mr. Rogers meets The Incredible Hulk.
- The customizable pulp magazine cover generator.
From the Archives
- If ignorance about sex is grounds for a court order forbidding it, neofeminists and religious fundamentalists need to start worrying.
- In New Zealand, even prohibiting streetwalkers from working in certain areas requires a new law.
- Most people have the sense not to act out abduction fantasies in public.
- Attractive female cops destroy the lives of high-school boys via trickery.
- Sex cannot be an addiction; those who disagree are selling something.
- African countries which are more civilized about sex work than the US.
- Police violence against whores, and follow-ups to those examples.
- Femen protests are less annoying if you just look at the pictures.
- No matter which direction the cash flows, it’s whores who suffer.
- My little sister’s peerless recipe for chicken and andouille gumbo.
- The tale of an escort who falls in love with a most unusual client.
- The prostitute who didn’t want Charles Dickens to “rescue” her.
- Meet Bethany St. James, Jill Brenneman and a sex worker mom.
- A study identifies the genes that cause gendered behavior.
- Must every strong urge now be described as an addiction?
- A prohibitionist “survivor” attempts to infiltrate my blog.
- Josie Arlington, one of the great madams of Storyville.
- A California woman claims porn can’t be copyrighted.
- Streetwalker accused of “knowingly” spreading HIV.
- Yet another debunking of the “gypsy whores” myth.
- Former madam tries to cash in on prohibitionist lies.
- Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?
- How well-chosen pictures increase blog traffic.
- There’s more than one way to skin a lawhead.
- A priest who campaigns for sex worker rights.
- Whores are no different from everybody else.
- Walking stereotype’s lawsuit is dismissed.
- Wannabe pimp falls for Super Bowl hype.
- Sex, love and money in Cambodia.
- Another “dog bites man” thing.
- All prohibitionism is the same.
- What Would Orrin Hatch Do?
- Potential HIV vaccines.
- Deadly butt injections.
LOL … that was a great video of Mr. Rogers and Lou Ferrigno! I had forgotten that one of Fred’s sidekicks was named … “Mr. McFeeley” … lol that dirty old dude!
Ferrigno was 6’5″ and over 300 lbs (I believe) when he was filming “The Hulk”. He was bigger than Arnold, and probably a nicer guy.
But my favorite body builder has always been Franck Zane … he was shorter than Arnold but he was perfectly proportioned and he was one of the last “proportioned” body builders in the sport before it was conquered by the “apes”. I always figured that, if I could build my body to look like Zane’s … then all the women in a room would spontaneously ovulate when I walked into it! LMFAO! I still believe that … but I just don’t have Zane’s “proportioned” DNA … I’m too much of an “ape”. 🙁
McFeely was actually Fred Rogers’s middle name. I think it was his mother’s maiden name originally.
LOL – I didn’t know that! We had a guy on my first submarine in Pearl Harbor who the girls working at the SIMA called “McFeely” … but it had nothing to do with Mr. Rogers. Apparently the guy asked one of the SIMA girls out on a date and, stylish upscale guy that he was – took her to McDonalds for dinner! 😛
Then he tried to grope her as they were sitting outside eating Big Macs by the ballhouse play center! 😛 I was living with a SIMA girl at the time who worked for planning and estimating … she called me up on the boat one day and said … “Hey Krulac, I’m sending Debbie down to check your gyro repeaters … KEEP MCFEELY AWAY FROM HER!!” LMFAO!!! That guy was a hoot! Terror of women everywhere!!
“No one has the right to make fun of anyone.”
Tyrants can withstand everything except laughter.
“The devill… that prowde spirite… cannot endure to be mocked.” – St. Thomas More
Yeah, the Hulk thing was pretty cool. I liked Bill Bixby’s character. “Don’t make me angry. You won’t like me when I’m angry.”
Re: the TSA statement, I found out that passenger’s asshattery will be allowed if it fits within a clear, quart-sized plastic container.
But, but, Officer Friendly is our friend! It says so right on the label!
Raining spiders is just a bit of a eyai yai yaaa moment for me.
The story about the timuktu custodian saving the records of their civilizatio from the new barbarians was very moving. Alesandria or Agora, anyone?
And for additional emphasis on the second means whereby water can kill…
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57569111/new-zealand-coroner-suggests-soft-drink-health-warnings-after-linking-womans-death-to-coca-cola-intake/
The coroner said it was hard to be certain about how much Coke Harris drank, but after reviewing evidence from her partner and friends, as well as 51 supermarket receipts, he estimated it was between 6 and 10 liters (1.6 and 2.6 gallons) per day.
But, obviously, without a warning label, she could not have had any idea that this might not be the optimum diet for her.
Leaving aside the issue of what that kind of liquid consumption does to your without a corresponding electrolyte component, my uncle ended up in the hospital with acidosis because he drank about 1.5 gallons of cranberry juice daily. He’d been doing it for about two weeks when he suddenly started having cardiac issues. The fact is that nothing is safe in sufficiently large quantities.
A concept so important I have a regularly-growing tattoo as a reminder
Tyrannical Valentines
That is truly disturbing. At least they remember that Hitler isn’t the ONLY bad guy from history.
Cops pretending to be dead kids
Maybe these domestic spies should consult a writer. I don’t consider myself a great writer by any stretch, but I don’t have to name my characters after dead kids. Well, except Alice Liddel, and there was a specific reason I gave her that name. If you can’t guess why, then go ask Alice; I think she’ll know.
It’s nice to see democracy beat fascism once in a while.
Yes it is. Maybe this sort of thing can spread?
Only Republican maps have the magical power to force people to do evil.
Um, yeah. OK, first off, the SPLC map didn’t have cross-hairs and wasn’t associated with people saying, “Don’t retreat, reload” and “Second Amendment remedies.” No, I don’t believe that maps (Sara Palin’s or anyone else’s) can make people do evil things, or good things for that matter. But this comparison is really reaching, just like the whole we found somebody lefty saying something about vaccinations and autism, and that absolutely balances out elected officials denying evolution, climate change, and cigarettes causing lung cancer nonsense of some time back.
ten ways water can kill
Number 3 isn’t a way that water can kill, so they only have nine.
criminalize parody Twitter accounts No one has a right to make fun of anyone.”
I don’t expect these to go very far. The percentage of the public wanting to make it a crime to mock politicians has to be pretty small, so before you even get to the First Amendment, there will be no public support.
OK, I’ll get some more tomorrow, probably.
On maps: In the article’s favor, the guy did explicitly say who he was basing his actions on. That’s one thing.
On the other, the SPLC’s methods have always been education and through the legal process. Going in guns blazing literally is very clearly DOING IT WRONG. I haven’t seen imagery from them promoting violence, only imagery evoking concern about it.
And yes, they probably need a subtler classification system.
If only “tomorrow” meant “three days from now,” then yeah. But it doesn’t, so… no.
police squad ignoring 9 1 1 calls
At least they were fired, well half of them, and the other half suspended without pay. I’m actually pleased to see they didn’t get early retirement with full pensions.
picture of a weapon and imaginary weapon
One of the comments on the first story ends with: “And since SAT and GRE scores consistently show that school administration majors are even stupider than the education majors, the janitor would be running the school. (That might be an improvement.)”
I’ve got an even better idea: let the students run the school. This movie is fictionalized somewhat, but is based on a real story and a real school. We could learn something.
Cop gropes pregnant woman
Suspended with pay. IOW a vacation. OK, OK, the investigation is ongoing. Surely if they find out that it’s true, the least they can do is dock his pay for the period of the suspension and the day in question? This made the news, so there is some chance of some justice.
handicapped parking
It seems that there might have been a sign there already designating the spot as reserved for handicapped parking. The article mentions this so in passing that I’m not sure. That is, this might not be a case of the city (or those working for the city, same difference) picking out a random motorist and deciding, ‘let’s turn this innocent person into a criminal so we can collect a fine!’ Again, the article isn’t that clear. Even if there was a sign, though, the city’s boorish behavior means that the fines should be dropped, and they were. That’s right: if city officials do things improperly, people should get away with stuff. Don’t want people getting away with stuff? Then watch yourself.
insane judge
Wow, I could be off of disability and making $180K a year. Her disorder is more severe than mine.
All kidding aside, she’s suspended pending investigation by the Judicial Inquiry Board. She’s not handing down decisions after consultation with her invisible advisers. I’ve been against electing judges for some time.
Timbuktu library
Extremists, killers, fanatics: they always manage to destroy some and frighten many. But in the end, they lose. From here to Timbuktu, in the end, the extremists lose.
OK, I’ll do the rest later today. TODAY, not three days hence.
And behold! I am back today.
The pogrom of August 1st, 1988
And the press cheered them on. And the biggest hero in any cop movie is the guy who says, “Screw ‘by the book;’ I’m doing this my own way!” Until we give that up, as a people, this will continue. For that really is the way liberty dies: to thunderous applause.
Welcome to our world
I suspect that individual cities might do this, even if the FCC does not.
Brazil
I think I’ll be happy to watch the 2016 Olympics on TV. Excuse me now, I’ve got to find my brain bleach.
Although, in truth, it looks less like the spiders are raining from the skies and more like they are rappelling off the power lines. Another good reason to BURY THE FRICKIN’ POWER LINES.
TSA statement
They suggest the word “cupcake,” which gave me “Through the expanded use of existing and proven technology, better passenger identification techniques, and our new speedier screening of the low-risk forms of cupcake , the TSA’s layered risk-based security approach has made aviation safer since 9/11.”
However, when I used the word “hentai,” I got “TSA officers are given highly advanced Engage! training involving real-time simulations of friendly public relations. They are also given extensive conflict management scenarios which successfully explore a hypothetical passenger’s or co-worker’s hentai.”
The word “marijuana” gave me “The recent news reports of a TSA officer deployed as part of our Wheel World Bicycle Screening™ allegedly confiscating and abusing a bicyclist’s marijuana are unfortunate. The officer is now on administrative leave, pending further investigation.” That last one actually sounds pretty realistic.
Mr. Rogers/Hulk
I saw this when it first aired. I sometimes helped my maternal grandmother sit for my youngest cousin, and she watched Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood every day. I had forgotten what a babe Betty Aberlin was.
Pulp-O-Mizer
THANK YOU for this! I’ve already used it to created a “first draft” of a TOMBOY cover. Next time, though, I won’t put any characters on the cover. I’ll use the Pulp-O-Mizer, but I’ll get my images of Janie, Tomboy, Rei and Eleanor elsewhere.
Hello Kitty in Space
Hello Kitty is exquisitely cute. I’ve been considering a Hello Kitty backpack. These projects where ordinary people use a balloon to send a camera to high altitudes is also very cool. Combining the high-altitude balloon-borne camera with Hello Kitty is just too awesomely cutely coolacious for words.
However, one thing does bother me, and that is the constant use, in news reports and such, of the terms “in space” and “pictures from space.” These cameras get up to a higher altitude than commercial airliners, but let’s be clear about one thing: they do not reach SPACE. Space is more than fifty miles up, and orbital spacecraft are typically more than a hundred miles up. These balloon-borne cameras seldom make it past twenty miles up; this one almost made eighteen. That’s cool, but it isn’t SPACE.