I HAVE HEARD IT TERMED CATASTROPHIC POPULATION COLLAPSE: China’s Population Decline Continues.
Archive for 2024
January 30, 2024
RANK PROPAGANDA: Running the Numbers on Rape and Pregnancy.
THEY WANT US IN CHAINS AND STARVING: Nitrogen 2000 — The Dutch Farmer Struggle.
AND SPEAKING OF PEOPLE WHO DON’T LEARN: ‘Go woke, go broke’: Rip Curl scorched for promoting trans woman surfer.
MODELS AREN’T SCIENCE. ANYONE THAT DIDN’T LEARN THAT IN 2020 NEEDS TO WAKE UP: Global Warming: Observations vs. Climate Models.
THIS IS ALL HE HAS: Biden Freaks Out in South Carolina and Starts Screaming About Trump.
January 29, 2024
OOPS:
Joy Reid was caught on a hot mic saying that Joe Biden is “starting another f*cking war”
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) January 30, 2024
Related:
Biden Cleverly Distracts From Civil War By Starting World War https://t.co/6CUTKQkQjN pic.twitter.com/f3tEnuPARQ
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) January 29, 2024
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Five Uplifting Items.
OPEN THREAD: Monday, Monday.
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SEALS THE DEAL FOR TRUMP: Trump Promises If Elected He Will Ban Taylor Swift From Football Games.
I DON’T SEE THIS AS PROPER FCC TURF: FCC reaffirms orbital debris mitigation rules. Orbital debris is a serious problem — I’ve been writing about it for years — but it’s a space-utilization problem, not a communications problem. This is a power grab utilizing regulatory leveraging. I hope Congress fixes this in pending legislation.
WILLIAM SHATNER BEAMS DOWN SCATHING REBUKE AGAINST EUROPEAN UNION’S TARGETING OF STAR TREK:
Presentism at work yet again. Why start at Trek? Isn’t it better to start at the beginning and redo foundation material such as the Magna Carta, religious writings, works of Shakespeare before worrying about a silly TV show opening that reflects social commentary of the time? If people are offended by 6 seconds of dialogue recorded in 1966 without a modicum of understanding of the social issues at the time there’s bigger issues that they need to deal with first – like educating themselves.
To provide more context, the European Institute for Gender Equality is behind this latest display of stupidity. The agency released a document recommending changes to various phrases and terms to supposedly make them more inclusive.
The phrase, made famous by Captain Kirk (William Shatner), has a red cross next to it in a 61-page toolkit on gender-sensitive communication.
EU agency the European Institute for Gender Equality calls it an example of “where women may be subject to invisibility or omission”.
World War One phrase “no man’s land” should be “unclaimed territory”, they say.
World War One?! Why is the EU already airbrushing away the first salvo of what it dubbed “The European Civil War” in 2012?
ARS TECHNICA INADVERTENTLY PRAISES MASTERS OF THE AIR:
World War Blech
After two episodes, I feel I’ve seen everything Masters has to offer: a dead-serious window into the world of B-17 Flying Fortress pilots, wholly lacking any irony or sense of self-awareness. There’s no winking and nodding to the audience, no joking around, no historic interviews with salt-and-pepper veterans to humanize the cast. The only thing allowed here is wall-to-wall jingoistic patriotism—the kind where there’s no room for anything except God, the United States of America, and bombing the crap out of the enemy. And pining wistfully for that special girl waiting at home.
I thought the first two episodes of Masters of the Air (currently streaming on Apple TV) were okay, akin to the 1960s TV series 12 O’Clock High, with infinitely more high-tech special effects, but without the steely-eyed gravitas of actors who were actually around during WWII. But after such high praise as Ars Technica offers above, I will likely tune in for more.
WHY MICHAEL JACKSON AND PRINCE HATED EACH OTHER: THE FEUD OVER “WE ARE THE WORLD:”
Prince couldn’t bring himself to do it. That was partly because of his natural shyness: the infamously withdrawn and perfectionist star was reluctant to squeeze into a booth with a-listers such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
A bigger problem, though, was We Are The World itself – an avalanche of naff co-written by Richie and Prince’s nemesis, Michael Jackson. The best Prince would do was offer to lay down a solo – provided he could do so on his own. “I don’t need him to f______ play guitar!” retorted We Are The World producer and Jackson collaborator Quincy Jones.
In the Eighties, the Jacko-Prince feud somehow flew under the radar. However, it is front and centre of a new Netflix documentary about the making of We Are The World. The Greatest Night in Pop doesn’t shy away from Prince and his non-involvement in the sessions. Singer Sheila E reveals to Netflix that she was invited because the producers hoped she would encourage Prince, with whom she had recorded extensively, to tag along.
“It was getting late, and I was looking forward to singing one of the verses,” she tells the filmmakers. “But they kept asking, ‘Well, do you think you can get Prince here?’ And I’m like, wow. This is weird. and I just started feeling like I’m being used because they want Prince to show up and the longer they keep me, maybe Prince will show up.”
Prince didn’t like We Are The World, describing it as “horrible”. He had an even bigger dislike of Jackson – a hatred so embittered Prince couldn’t bring himself to express his sympathies after Jackson’s shock death in June 2009, aged just 50.
The feeling was mutual, no doubt inspiring a classic case of media one-upmanship in the late 1980s:
Larry Stessel [Epic Records executive]:
Michael called me one day and said, “I want to have a nickname, like ‘The Boss’ or ‘The King.’” I said, “Well, Bruce Springsteen is ‘The Boss,’ and Elvis Presley is ‘The King.’ You can’t be the King because you’ll never live it down. The press will rip you apart.” But Michael would not let this go. He hired his own personal publicist, Bob Jones. And one day, Bob issued a press release announcing that Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. Michael went rogue on us. And sure enough, he got slammed. Everyone laughed.
Likely with one five foot two exception, of course.
ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Watch: Nancy Pelosi Loses It as Protesters Storm Her Property, Tells Them to ‘Go Back to China.’
THIS IS SORT OF LIKE WHEN WOODY ALLEN PRODUCED MARSHALL MCLUHAN TO SHUT UP A BLOWHARD WHO WAS TALKING ABOUT MCLUHAN’S WORK: This Mark Cuban Story is Too Good Not to Share.
Key bit:
In case you need a primer on the law: https://t.co/01S2luOvRw
— Andrea R. Lucas (@andrealucasEEOC) January 29, 2024
Plus:
@mcuban and all of the companies he has invested in need to be investigated immediately. He has openly admitted to violating Federal law. When should we expect him to be brought before Congress?
— Two Weeks LOL (@TwoWeeksLOL) January 29, 2024
MYSTERY SOLVED: We Know Now Why Boeing’s Door Plug Bolts Didn’t Do Their Job. “The latest revelation is especially damning: the plane that sparked a new round of questions over Boeing’s ability to ensure its jets’ safety left the factory without the door plug bolts installed. They weren’t just loose — as door plug bolts on other aircraft were found to be upon mandatory post-incident inspections — they weren’t there. . . . If, as the evidence points, Boeing sent the 737 MAX 9 into service with Alaska entirely missing the bolts needed to keep the door plug in place, it seems there’s a lot more oversight necessary to ensure the bare minimum of quality control is achieved on the assembly line.”