It is known

[Taomeow]

 

 

 

[Taomeow]

 

[Mote]

It seems like the videos posted to this thread are meant to say some things on current events? If so, then one could say that the use of the Simpsons clip in the first post falls to a hasty generalization fallacy, and the second clip to the moral equivalence fallacy.

 

Who knows what?

 

P.S. Of course, though: I expect OP means these as a joke? To which I would reply: a ham and cheese sandwich walks into a bar, asks for a menu. Bartender says 'Sorry we don't serve food here.'

Edited July 5, 2020 by Mote

[Taomeow]

"American slavery was technically abolished in 1865, but a loophole in the 13th Amendment has allowed it to continue “as a punishment for crimes” well into the 21st century. Not surprisingly, corporations have lobbied for a broader and broader definition of “crime” in the last 150 years. As a result, there are more (mostly dark-skinned) people performing mandatory, essentially unpaid, hard labor in America today than there were in 1830."

 

https://returntonow.net/2016/06/13/prison-labor-is-the-new-american-slavery/?fbclid=IwAR2G0t2JKyn-5AOgqySPKVp1qlh1m_XaQWjeNFw26Al5biVv5qXi2RRABqQ

[Taomeow]

The average life expectancy in Manchester in the 1850s--1880s was 17.  We are usually officially informed that this kind of numbers are the result of high mortality in general and infant mortality in particular due to the absence of all the blessings of modern medicine.  This was not the case.  The main category that contributed to the statistics were children 9-12 years of age.  They were destroyed by hard labor, in particular they were forced to carry heavy weights in the cotton processing industries, loaded day in and day out way beyond what a human child can endure without breaking.  Malnutrition and pollution played their part as well.  The second category that contributed to the statistics were women, also put to work carrying heavy weights. 

 

(Taken from the book "The Dark Defile: Britain's Catastrophic Invasion of Afghanistan, 1838-1842," by Diana Preston)  

 

[Nungali]

44 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

The average life expectancy in Manchester in the 1850s--1880s was 17.  We are usually officially informed that this kind of numbers are the result of high mortality in general and infant mortality in particular due to the absence of all the blessings of modern medicine.  This was not the case.  The main category that contributed to the statistics were children 9-12 years of age.  They were destroyed by hard labor, in particular they were forced to carry heavy weights in the cotton processing industries, loaded day in and day out way beyond what a human child can endure without breaking.  Malnutrition and pollution played their part as well.  The second category that contributed to the statistics were women, also put to work carrying heavy weights. 

 

 

 

A while back I was looking at some film inside an old mine , I could not believe how small and narrow  some of the passages where. A man could hardly fit in one of those shafts, let alone  dig and work in it  .  Then I realised ..... 'men'   had not been digging in them at all .

[silent thunder]

Highly possible to me, based on pure population numbers and prevalent international coporate processes, that there are more slaves at this moment on Earth, than in all history combined.

 

[Taomeow]

It is known that cats are masters of social distancing -- unlike humans.  They tolerate isolation well, but are actually extremely social beings, and in social situations they are infinitely flexible (actually they are flexible in all situations unless their endocrine health has been compromised by all the things humans do to their pets that animals themselves don't do to themselves).  I observed scened of this nature everywhere where there's free-roaming cats.  They want to stick together but unless they're particularly close (mother and kittens, siblings who get along, best friends or more than friends), they don't stick together too tightly.  People often socialize as though personal space is going out of fashion, and not to express intimacy at that (which with strangers is not warranted at all) but to invade -- to make more of oneself in space and less of the other.  Cats, unless they're intimate for one of the above reasons, invade each other's space only when they mean to fight.  (Of course I'm talking about cats in cat environments, not cats in human environments, that's a different animal.)  

 

[Taomeow]

Edited September 1, 2020 by Taomeow

[silent thunder]

10 hours ago, Taomeow said:

true story.

 

Neither 'party' is on our side.

And we're not invited to the party... (though we may be on the dinner list).

 

[Taomeow]

22 minutes ago, silent thunder said:

true story.

 

Neither 'party' is on our side.

And we're not invited to the party... (though we may be on the dinner list).

 

 

Definitely on the dinner menu.

[SirPalomides]

But at least we get to pick who is eating us. Not everyone has such a privilege.

[Taomeow]

56 minutes ago, SirPalomides said:

But at least we get to pick who is eating us. Not everyone has such a privilege.

 

I would rejoice, but I am not sure we get to pick all that much in excess of what a toothpick gets to pick from between the teeth after dinner.  

[Taomeow]

Joe decided to lead rather than get out of the way.

 

Other than that, I'm mostly in his shoes 24/7.

 

 

 

 

 

[Taomeow]

San Diego Valley fire last night.  It has grown sixfold since then and is 1% contained.  The air is nasty, and the afternoon sun was not only an eerie orange but so painfully bright that I had technicolor phosphenes for a good ten minutes after I looked at it for a couple seconds.   Probably some reflective particles in the air?

 

 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Taomeow

[silent thunder]

Here was the moon from our balcony last night. 

So much ash in the air, it was still deep crimson/orange an hour and a half after rising.

 

Woke early and went out to finish prepping my truck and toolkit.

Had momentary sense memory/reality overlay distortion when it looked like my truck was covered in snow.

Then sighed and recalled it's ash from the El Dorado fire to the East of us... 55 miles away.

 

 

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, silent thunder said:

 

Had momentary sense memory/reality overlay distortion when it looked like my truck was covered in snow.

Then sighed and recalled it's ash from the El Dorado fire to the East of us... 55 miles away.

 

 

What a spectacular picture!  

 

Valley fire is 55 miles from us to the southeast.  The wind is currently moving it in our direction, northwest, at 1 mph.  My phone started meowing updates on warnings and evacuations.  I'm also getting prepared. 

 

My car doesn't look like it's covered in snow, it's funkier -- a mix of ash, some yellow pollen, and a whole army of ants crawling on top trying to sort it all out.  

Edited September 7, 2020 by Taomeow

[Taomeow]

The view from La Mesa -- which is about in the middle between us and the fire

 

[Taomeow]

Today's sighting nearby. 

A local's comment explaining it to the curious onlookers:

"HOA president Karen reported that a resident's grass was 3.2" high, far above the HOA rule 4.2.4.66 clearly stating grass must be cut to less than 2.75" at all times."

 

[Taomeow]

It is known.

 

It is known to all of California now.  It's a boy.

 

El Dorado fire was started by a pyrotechnic device released at a gender reveal party.  

 

Imagine starting your life by having a few thousand acres burned to the ground in your honor on the first day of your existence.  That boy may be destined to grow up to be someone special.  (Genghis Khan?..)  

 

  

[Nungali]

What happened ? Did you have to evacuate?   Is fire out ?

[Taomeow]

9 minutes ago, Nungali said:

What happened ? Did you have to evacuate?   Is fire out ?

 

There's multiple wildfires all across California, over 2,2 million acres have burned so far (making 2020 the largest wildfire season in California history already, but it only just began) and nothing is contained yet.  I'm not in the evac zone for the moment -- the closest one, Valley fire, is still far enough, so all I had to deal with so far is some smoky air (and today a smoky fog -- it dawned on me that that's what they call "smog," after I initially mislabeled it "foke").  But we're going to get Santa Ana winds, by tomorrow I think, and these are expected to be strong (50-60 mph) and are always incredibly erratic, changing direction without a warning and likely to complicate matters.  So I'm just watching it and trying to not be caught unprepared just in case, the way I was the last time it happened -- we were told to be ready to bug out within an hour (didn't have to in the end, but there was no knowing in advance) and it's too stressful to be figuring it out on such short notice.  

 

I bet you're getting a bit of a deja vu by proxy.

 

[Nungali]

Our fire season started on the 2nd last day of winter !  Not even a spring retrieve .

 

We already had a fire south of here - arson.  Then the  fire services put it out  and it started again later , re lit they say . At the moment its very dry although a wet 2nd half of spring is predicted and a summer with a wet season -  with an incleasing chance of ' La Nina ' developing .

 

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/tropical-note/

 

Good luck !

 

[Taomeow]

Thanks, and to you too!

[rene]

On 9/8/2020 at 8:54 AM, Taomeow said:

It is known.

 

It is known to all of California now.  It's a boy.

 

El Dorado fire was started by a pyrotechnic device released at a gender reveal party.  

 

Imagine starting your life by having a few thousand acres burned to the ground in your honor on the first day of your existence.  That boy may be destined to grow up to be someone special.  (Genghis Khan?..)  

 

  

Hope they name him Sparky