Saved comments during January 2025
Feb. 1st, 2025 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neonvincentMy comment on Lincoln-Way High School Marching Band - 2025 Pasadena Bandfest.
Here is the music for the field show:
0:32 Music from "El Cid"
2:20 "The Death Hunt" from the movie "On Dangerous Ground"
4:00 "The Magnificent Seven"
6:00 "Gone with the Wind"
8:45 Reprise of "El Cid"
8:56 "Hurray for Hollywood"
The song for the pass in review at 13:12 is "Land of Make Believe."
My comment on the Instagram post for 2024 in review from ABC, NBC, Vox, Google, and Time for New Year's Eve.
This was my 666th post on Instagram. PH34R M3!
My comment on "Desert Music" (HC) - ReliaQuest Bowl - Dec 31st, 2024 - Michigan Marching Band
Music from the "Dune" movies made this the perfect video to upload on National Science Fiction Day!
My comments on I ask The Archdruid and his readers 'Can you show us on the doll exactly where the educated professionals hurt you?' A Festivus airing of grievances.
Welcome back! I'm glad you responded!
Kunstler (I probably know him well enough to call him Jim) and I had a mutual falling out on Halloween 2019 when I posted one too many comments with links for his readers, who called me out and convinced him to threaten to ban me if I posted any more links. I was already annoyed at him for taking Russia's side in Ukraine after 2014, deciding the Democratic Party was a threat to America (I think this was his response to being to being "canceled on campus" — instead of hippie-punching the campus activists, he blamed the party as a whole), and consequently taking Trump's side on what developed into his first impeachment that I replaced a movie I showed my students that featured him with one that was more optimistic and up to date. I felt he had developed a bad case of "get off my lawn," getting old in attitudes and opinions in addition to aging physically, which explains his becoming "less active and less interesting," and decided to stop reading and posting at his blog entirely. As I wrote in 2020, "I don't miss it, as my peace of mind has increased noticeably since."
As for the unpleasant taste you get from Greer, whether its sour, bitter, or as the young people say, salty, I think he's coping with his not being taken more seriously by the mainstream through his expectation that the course of human events will take care of the people ignoring him and he won't have to do anything directly against them. That's where his series on the social significance of Wagner's Ring Cycle that he's in the middle of seems to be leading. It fits in with what I wrote about his apparent animus (not Jung's, speaking of woo) towards the professional-managerial class.
Thanks for posting the link to your Substack post about AI. I found it informative and entertaining. Your mentioning online shopping reminds me that I attended a book signing by Michael Lewis in 1999 or 2000 for his book "Next." I commented that people had been looking for the "killer app" to get the internet to take off and then asked if he was surprised it turned out to be shopping. I don't remember his answer other than his chuckling at it.
Mentioning Matt Taibbi is a clue to this phenomenon. He was very left on economic issues, but not on social issues. He spent about six years in Russia and other parts of the former USSR from 1992 to 1998 or so, where he was the co-editor for The eXile, a newspaper for expats, and wrote for The Moscow Times and other Russian newspapers. He then wrote a book about the experience, The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia. That might have made him more favorable to Russia than one might otherwise expect.
Those circumstances are specific to Taibbi, as I don't think Kunstler or Greer have any connection to Russia besides knowing Dmitri Orlov, who was the third member of the most known trio/troika of doomers/collapsniks. I think Orlov rubbed off on both of them. Instead, both The eXile and The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia reported/depicted incidents that people found cruel and mysogynistic, even if the instances in the book were fictional or at least fictionalized. The mere fact that they were there was revealing.
Kunstler isn't openly hostile to women, but some female friends of mine tell me they get whiffs of sexism off of him. He has expressed a lot of concern about a crisis of masculinity among young men and his brush with political correctness on campus and the threat of being canceled he described was with an African-American woman. It makes me wonder if he's opposed to the Democrats in general and the American left in [particular] because he sees them as feminized. Supporting ostentatiously "manly men" like Putin and Trump might be a corrective to that, so "owning the woke" is definitely part of it. At least Greer is not sexist, but he and Kunstler have definitely made the Realpolitik "spheres of influence" argument.
Ah, good point. I recall that porn sites made all the original advances in streaming video, which is now the number one source of traffic on the internet. However, I don't know if anyone respectable was willing to say that in 2000. Avenue Q and "The Internet's Made for Porn" hadn't been written and performed yet. That had to wait until 2003.
My comment on '2024 becomes the world's hottest year on record, fueling extreme weather events,' the year in climate and weather.
Thanks to Infidel753 for linking to this entry at Link round-up for 4 January 2025 and welcome to his readers who came here from his link. Also, welcome to all my readers from Brazil, Singapore, Germany, Austria, Russia (yes, even you), and the rest of the planet, including a special shout out to my Brazilian readers, who contributed ~6,520 page views this week, nearly twice those of my American readers!
My comment on Jackson State University "Sonic Boom of the South" - 2025 Pasadena Rose Parade.
6:40 Since no one else mentioned it, I will: The Sonic Boom Rickrolled the Rose Parade!
My comments on PBS Terra explains 'How Scientists Solved the Mystery of a 300-Year-Old Megaquake'.
I looked up estimates of deaths, injuries, and homelessness from a magnitude 9 earthquake in the Pacific Northwest and found these from Surviving Cascadia, themselves quoted from Oregon's Cascadia Rising Exercise document (PDF).
Coastal fatalities (Oregon): 4,800 (4,500 from tsumami, 300 from the earthquake itself)
I-5 corridor fatalities (Oregon): 400 (all from earthquake)
Coastal injuries (Oregon): 6,500 (5,000 from earthquake, 1,500 from tsunami)
I-5 corridor injuries (Oregon): 9,000 (all from earthquake)
Homelessness/needing shelter (Oregon): 520,000 (500,000 earthquake, 20,000 tsunami)
Coastal fatalities (Washington): 9,100 (9,000 from tsunami, 100 from earthquake)
I-5 corridor fatalities (Washington): 300-1,600 (300 earthquake, 0-1,300 tsunami)
Coastal injuries (Washington): 5,000 (2,000 earthquake, 3,000 tsunami)
I-5 corridor injuries (Washington): 7,400 (7,000 earthquake, 400 tsunami)
Homelessness/needing shelter (Washington): 415,000 (370,000 earthquake, 45,000 tsunami)
According to these estimates, more people will die from the earthquake along the I-5 corridor than along the coasts in both Oregon and Washington, but far more will die from the tsunami along the coasts alone (13,500) than the total that will die from the shaking throughout both states (1,100). So, no, the official estimates do not support your expectation that "the death toll from structural collapses and fire in Portland and Seattle to be much larger" than tsunami deaths on the Oregon and Washington coasts.
Thanks for linking to the sources of these statistics and the blog as a whole in Link round-up for 18 January 2025. I'm glad to have informed you and your readers.
My comment on The closest surviving theme park to where I grew up...
Yeah, it's not even a dog whistle any more, although they have become hostile to education for nearly everyone.
My comment on Video for a future Retail Apocalypse post.
I definitely plan on comparing and contrasting CVS and Walgreens, but I'm not sure I'll reach the conclusion of CVS being doomed and Walgreens being triumphant.
Here is the music for the field show:
0:32 Music from "El Cid"
2:20 "The Death Hunt" from the movie "On Dangerous Ground"
4:00 "The Magnificent Seven"
6:00 "Gone with the Wind"
8:45 Reprise of "El Cid"
8:56 "Hurray for Hollywood"
The song for the pass in review at 13:12 is "Land of Make Believe."
My comment on the Instagram post for 2024 in review from ABC, NBC, Vox, Google, and Time for New Year's Eve.
This was my 666th post on Instagram. PH34R M3!
My comment on "Desert Music" (HC) - ReliaQuest Bowl - Dec 31st, 2024 - Michigan Marching Band
Music from the "Dune" movies made this the perfect video to upload on National Science Fiction Day!
My comments on I ask The Archdruid and his readers 'Can you show us on the doll exactly where the educated professionals hurt you?' A Festivus airing of grievances.
Welcome back! I'm glad you responded!
Kunstler (I probably know him well enough to call him Jim) and I had a mutual falling out on Halloween 2019 when I posted one too many comments with links for his readers, who called me out and convinced him to threaten to ban me if I posted any more links. I was already annoyed at him for taking Russia's side in Ukraine after 2014, deciding the Democratic Party was a threat to America (I think this was his response to being to being "canceled on campus" — instead of hippie-punching the campus activists, he blamed the party as a whole), and consequently taking Trump's side on what developed into his first impeachment that I replaced a movie I showed my students that featured him with one that was more optimistic and up to date. I felt he had developed a bad case of "get off my lawn," getting old in attitudes and opinions in addition to aging physically, which explains his becoming "less active and less interesting," and decided to stop reading and posting at his blog entirely. As I wrote in 2020, "I don't miss it, as my peace of mind has increased noticeably since."
As for the unpleasant taste you get from Greer, whether its sour, bitter, or as the young people say, salty, I think he's coping with his not being taken more seriously by the mainstream through his expectation that the course of human events will take care of the people ignoring him and he won't have to do anything directly against them. That's where his series on the social significance of Wagner's Ring Cycle that he's in the middle of seems to be leading. It fits in with what I wrote about his apparent animus (not Jung's, speaking of woo) towards the professional-managerial class.
Thanks for posting the link to your Substack post about AI. I found it informative and entertaining. Your mentioning online shopping reminds me that I attended a book signing by Michael Lewis in 1999 or 2000 for his book "Next." I commented that people had been looking for the "killer app" to get the internet to take off and then asked if he was surprised it turned out to be shopping. I don't remember his answer other than his chuckling at it.
Mentioning Matt Taibbi is a clue to this phenomenon. He was very left on economic issues, but not on social issues. He spent about six years in Russia and other parts of the former USSR from 1992 to 1998 or so, where he was the co-editor for The eXile, a newspaper for expats, and wrote for The Moscow Times and other Russian newspapers. He then wrote a book about the experience, The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia. That might have made him more favorable to Russia than one might otherwise expect.
Those circumstances are specific to Taibbi, as I don't think Kunstler or Greer have any connection to Russia besides knowing Dmitri Orlov, who was the third member of the most known trio/troika of doomers/collapsniks. I think Orlov rubbed off on both of them. Instead, both The eXile and The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia reported/depicted incidents that people found cruel and mysogynistic, even if the instances in the book were fictional or at least fictionalized. The mere fact that they were there was revealing.
Kunstler isn't openly hostile to women, but some female friends of mine tell me they get whiffs of sexism off of him. He has expressed a lot of concern about a crisis of masculinity among young men and his brush with political correctness on campus and the threat of being canceled he described was with an African-American woman. It makes me wonder if he's opposed to the Democrats in general and the American left in [particular] because he sees them as feminized. Supporting ostentatiously "manly men" like Putin and Trump might be a corrective to that, so "owning the woke" is definitely part of it. At least Greer is not sexist, but he and Kunstler have definitely made the Realpolitik "spheres of influence" argument.
Ah, good point. I recall that porn sites made all the original advances in streaming video, which is now the number one source of traffic on the internet. However, I don't know if anyone respectable was willing to say that in 2000. Avenue Q and "The Internet's Made for Porn" hadn't been written and performed yet. That had to wait until 2003.
My comment on '2024 becomes the world's hottest year on record, fueling extreme weather events,' the year in climate and weather.
Thanks to Infidel753 for linking to this entry at Link round-up for 4 January 2025 and welcome to his readers who came here from his link. Also, welcome to all my readers from Brazil, Singapore, Germany, Austria, Russia (yes, even you), and the rest of the planet, including a special shout out to my Brazilian readers, who contributed ~6,520 page views this week, nearly twice those of my American readers!
My comment on Jackson State University "Sonic Boom of the South" - 2025 Pasadena Rose Parade.
6:40 Since no one else mentioned it, I will: The Sonic Boom Rickrolled the Rose Parade!
My comments on PBS Terra explains 'How Scientists Solved the Mystery of a 300-Year-Old Megaquake'.
I looked up estimates of deaths, injuries, and homelessness from a magnitude 9 earthquake in the Pacific Northwest and found these from Surviving Cascadia, themselves quoted from Oregon's Cascadia Rising Exercise document (PDF).
Coastal fatalities (Oregon): 4,800 (4,500 from tsumami, 300 from the earthquake itself)
I-5 corridor fatalities (Oregon): 400 (all from earthquake)
Coastal injuries (Oregon): 6,500 (5,000 from earthquake, 1,500 from tsunami)
I-5 corridor injuries (Oregon): 9,000 (all from earthquake)
Homelessness/needing shelter (Oregon): 520,000 (500,000 earthquake, 20,000 tsunami)
Coastal fatalities (Washington): 9,100 (9,000 from tsunami, 100 from earthquake)
I-5 corridor fatalities (Washington): 300-1,600 (300 earthquake, 0-1,300 tsunami)
Coastal injuries (Washington): 5,000 (2,000 earthquake, 3,000 tsunami)
I-5 corridor injuries (Washington): 7,400 (7,000 earthquake, 400 tsunami)
Homelessness/needing shelter (Washington): 415,000 (370,000 earthquake, 45,000 tsunami)
According to these estimates, more people will die from the earthquake along the I-5 corridor than along the coasts in both Oregon and Washington, but far more will die from the tsunami along the coasts alone (13,500) than the total that will die from the shaking throughout both states (1,100). So, no, the official estimates do not support your expectation that "the death toll from structural collapses and fire in Portland and Seattle to be much larger" than tsunami deaths on the Oregon and Washington coasts.
Thanks for linking to the sources of these statistics and the blog as a whole in Link round-up for 18 January 2025. I'm glad to have informed you and your readers.
My comment on The closest surviving theme park to where I grew up...
Yeah, it's not even a dog whistle any more, although they have become hostile to education for nearly everyone.
My comment on Video for a future Retail Apocalypse post.
I definitely plan on comparing and contrasting CVS and Walgreens, but I'm not sure I'll reach the conclusion of CVS being doomed and Walgreens being triumphant.
