Censorship - a job REAL Americans just won't do.
Posted On: Thursday - December 26th 2019 6:28PM MST
In Topics: Liberty/Libertarianism Orwellian Stupidity Big-Biz Stupidity iEspionage
This is a good one, straight off of VDare from just over a week back. I made up my headline, and then realized it almost matched James Kirkpatrick's Another Job Americans Won't Do; Censor The Free Speech Of Americans. This article is what pushed Peak Stupidity into finally getting onto the iEspionage topic, as with our 2nd-most-recent post.
Like a lot of the electronic/internet-based espionage done mostly to ourselves with no concern by the "if you have nothing to hide ..." crowd, nobody HAS to participate. There are some alternatives to youtube, but I'm not sure I know anybody between the ages of 5 and 65 that has not used youtube. There are people making a living via that virtual venue - it's called having your own channel and "monetizing".
For us music embedders and late-night full-ELO-album listeners it's the easiest thing. (Thanks go to commenter Ganderson for pointing me to some other Grateful Dead sources. Keep in mind, though that The Dead are different. They always made an effort to let all fans share their music.) I've seen how to fix a car window regulator, fix what could have been an expensive transmission problem, and, how to unsuccessfully take apart a nerf gun. At this point, most of us feel we NEED youtube.
Yeah, but to "keep us safe", youtube's goolag owners have a whole
Google’s largest content moderation facility in the US is in Austin, Texas. Hundreds of moderators who work there serve as YouTube’s police force.Really, $18.50 an hour to watch videos is a kid's dream come true. Oh, poor dears, no raise. This is a case in which I really wish there weren't any Americans that could be hired to do this job, just out of principle. That is hardly likely though. Mr. Kirkpatrick notes:
Google created a dedicated queue for videos believed to contain violent extremism and staffed it with dozens of low-paid immigrants from the Middle East. Moderators make $18.50 an hour — about $37,000 a year — and have not received a raise in two years.
Austin moderators are required to view five hours of gruesome video per day. This comes despite the fact that YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki promised to reduce their burden to four hours per day last year.
Workers on the site describe feeling anxiety, depression, night terrors, and other severe mental health consequences after doing the job for as little as six months
Of course, there is actual "violent extremism" that is put up online. ISIS propaganda videos, drug cartel violence, open calls to incitement and murder, etc. However, what the MSM is really interested in purging is speech they don't like. Essentially, Middle Eastern immigrants are being given veto power over what Americans are and are not allowed to say on the dominant online media platform.Yeah, and I wonder how slanted the censorship is regarding all matters Islam. Just as with hiring Moslem soldiers for the US Army, cough, Nidal Malik Hasan, cough, cough**, for these goolag censors, are we sure about the loyalty of these individuals to the US Constitution and the truth, respectively? Above all else, don't give them access to guns.
This probably doesn't matter to the people that operate this office in Austin, TX, as Goolag does not care about truth. They can use these guys to implement whatever agenda they want, suppression of nationalism and patriotism being most of it. You get a few Americans, and they may just get wise after a few months of 5 hours daily moderating to what is really going on. For the foreigners, these arcane concepts of freedom of speech and Constitutionally protected rights are not a factor. If you think that's bad, this is they do the same thing in the US military.
As stupid as this all is, do we really want to take this censorship ability from goolag and Facebook and give it to the US government? Oh, Trump will pick some good people, you say? Maybe, but then the next administration comes in, and like the Hildabeast's firing of everyone up through the White House travel office staff, now you got another thing coming.
* The whole Verge article, THE TRAUMA FLOOR, subtitled "The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America", by one Casey Newton, is very interesting itself. It concentrates on a contractor in the "moderation" business named Cognizant, which does this work for Facebook out of Phoenix, Arizona. It does not get much into the Moslem aspect, except to note that the company has forbid them to use break time to Head East and pray.
** No, no joke there regarding the reluctance to bring up this mass murder - it's just that, as far as I can tell, coughing is a part of speech in the Arabic language. Maybe I'm taking it out of context ...
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Merry Christmas from Peak Stupidity
Posted On: Wednesday - December 25th 2019 8:57AM MST
In Topics: Music Websites Bible/Religion Holiday from Stupidity
The lack of posting over the last 2 days, even with 4 on the front burner, is due to family obligations. The rest of the week may be the same, but we'll see. "The stupid you'll always have with you." or something like that, is what I've read* ...
If you are not a long-term reader, I recommend you click on "TOPIC KEYS". Of the 70 topics, you are are bound to find something you like, and you could probably peruse the stupidity through this entire holiday season and well into 2020.
The Peak Stupidity Moderator (OK slash-blogger-slash-site-admin) would like to particularly thank the great commenters that we have. We go for quality here, not quantity, as the reader can probably tell at a glance! Thank you BernCar, Dtbb, Ganderson, Rex Little, Bill H., MBlanc46, Dieter Kief, Clyde, Hail, Kikz, Peyton Fahrquahr, Working Class, and from way back, Joe Stalin, Buck Turgidson, Boris Putin, and Fiddlesticks. I look forward to any and all comments. Even just one a day boosts my spirits, so long as it is not a Russian-bot viagra ad meant to boost something else.
Hey, of all the Enya music I've listened to, inculding during some sort of New Age phase I underwent back in the day, I have never heard her sing Adeste Fideles! before. (Keep in mind that Enya often sings in some odd language that often sounds like either Klingon or Gibberish. This time, it turns out that it's Latin. Who knew?)
* Yes, it was "the poor you'll always have with you." that Jesus said in Matthew 26, and so as not to take it out of context, the King James version quotes Jesus thusly: "For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always."
My line above could be taken as a Libertarian/Conservative take on the continually-moving official BLS poverty line. If "the stupid" is taken as referring to people, same as with "the poor", then I gotta say that that's pretty cynical, and I need to be more forgiving, speaking of Jesus this morning. However, I use "the stupid" as referring to a phenomena.
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Government Positive Control of your "phone"
Posted On: Saturday - December 21st 2019 10:00AM MST
In Topics: Artificial Stupidity Orwellian Stupidity iEspionage
"Phone" is in quotes, because this is really not about just information spread by voice on your phone calls, the recording of this being bad enough. However, our iEspionage devices keep much more information than that. Don't ask whom the mark is, the tone rings for thee.
As long-ago and often promised, Peak Stupidity will start cranking out some post on this iEspionage topic. Recent events had me very aware of how much information is out there even on those of us who lay pretty low.
Upon signing up for a new phone plan a while back, I wondered why the big need for background information. After all, almost everyone does "autopay" or you lose $5 a month, every month, with these people now if you don't.. That means, one gives them a credit card to keep on file, and payments are billed. I guess they don't trust anyone anymore, or, OK, they will trust you to mail in a check each month (I've paid months ahead to avoid the hassle, but then ended up getting out of some of it), but only if you pay $5 for the "privilege".
What I don't like about this is that you lose any leverage if you've been overcharged in any manner. You can get through the voice-activated customer-"care" BS and then argue with them, but, hey, hey've already got the money. No longer can you threaten not to pay if they don't fix the problem. Well, we're going the new way, as sending them 60 bucks a year doesn't seem like a way to fight the system.
To get to the point, if they aren't worried about your credit, seeing as they can cut you off as soon as the card doesn't put out, why DO they need the driver's license, SS #, and all that jazz. Oh, yeah, I guess they want to absolutely, positively know who exactly is the one making these calls. They want to know what exact individual is where at what time, as the GPS information is damn precise.
"I'm not doing anything wrong, so why would they want to know, and why should I care?" you (not YOU) ask. As to the former, no, it's just data on your phone that can be kept for years, or sent up to a database regularly, so, no, they don't necessarily care right now. As to the latter, you may not be doing what is considered wrong now, but what you do now may be considered wrong later. What you may want to do later is something you already know is "wrong", as it may take you that long to get wise to how much of an Orwellian world we live in and want to put an end to that world.
I'll grant China this: they've had a big head start on this business. 10 years ago, it was still the wild, wild East, in which one could purchase a SIM card on the street that'd let one make phone calls from any phone. Now, going back at least 3 years, they must be registered. At least they don't pretend over there that's it's some kind of credit check.
Burner phones, bought with cash and no ID, while wearing a ball cap and 3 bandaids due to that "bad shave that morning" may be de rigueur for any man trying to live free in the near future.
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National Geographic - 21 years back
Posted On: Friday - December 20th 2019 8:23PM MST
In Topics: Global Climate Stupidity Media Stupidity Geography
Long term readers of the Peak Stupidity blog will know that we are not enamored with the current era National Geographic. That's not the whole Cambrian era, mind you, and not even the entire epoch we're in, it's just the last coupla' decades in which the formerly great National Geographic Society publication has turned to something resembling fossilized shit. Yeah, we have issues with these issues.
We picked up a copy early in the Peak Stupidity age and reported on "National Geographic, no more girly pics of the natives ..... Then, we had a more serious two part series on "Nat-Geo and the once great Royal Scientific Societies" --- Part 1 and Part 2. I haven't seen a reason to subscribe or even pick up that magazine in years, but I had a long wait in a waiting room, so ...
The issue shown above is from 1998. My perusal of it a few days back has strengthened my case that this magazine used to be OK. There was not a single one of the main articles that mentioned Global Climate DisruptionTM. I don't think you'd see an issue like that today. No matter where in the world these people go, they see CO2 doom on the horizon and blame everything going wrong on that poor innocuous trace gas.
As far as that subject goes, apparently there had been a recent article on it, as a number of letters to the editor mentioned it. At least one of them mentioned how fair and balanced the article had been.
The article on Catherine the Great of Russia (you may need to enlarge the image to make out the titles) did have a feminist slant to it, but seemed otherwise pretty fair. On the Greenland Sharks, well, what could be so controversial? (I still say we ought to eat them all.) Oh, yeah, nowadays, whatever animals you read about are doomed, doomed, I tells ya'!
Then there was the article on Romania that I read most of. Nope, there were no Global Climate DisruptionTM worries, but yes, there was some PC. A bunch of pictures featured the Gypsies, called "Roma" in Europe because they may have originated in Romania. The thing is, just like everywhere else in Europe, these people don't even try to fit in and are not well liked. I'm not sure the real Romanians would agree with the Gypsies being included in an article about their country, without a big asterisk and some nasty remarks.
Oh, yeah, none of the letters to the editor railed about the need for more women, people of colors, or those of different orientations in the fields of Paleontology, Russian history, or Marine Biology. It was a different, saner time, you understand ... a different epoch, if I may ...
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RIP - Maria Ladenburger
Posted On: Friday - December 20th 2019 12:09PM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity Lefty MegaStupidity Globalists Race/Genetics
Peak Stupidity has not posted anything about the Tessa Majors murder, which we do realize is a big story in the news. It does matter to people, even though it's not "fair", per se, that this was a beautiful 18 y/o student that some violent black* teenagers snuffed out from this world. The usual terminology is "robbery gone wrong", but does it matter whether the motive was a mugging, rape, or just some "hate gone wrong"?
I just want to compare the Tessa Majors story to something I've had on one of those old tabs, being linked-to long ago by a commenter somewhere. This other murder, including a rape first, of another bright young lady happened in Germany. It was also perpetrated by non-whites, but also non-Germans, INVITED IN!
A Breitbart article reports, in "Asylum Seeker Jailed for Rape, Murder of 19-Year-Old Maria Ladenburger":
Khavari pushed her off her bicycle as she was riding home alone from a party, then bit, choked and repeatedly raped her and left her on the bank of a river where she drowned.The trial of Hussein Khavari, "of uncertain age and origin"**, was 2 years later, and the article says Mr. Khavari, this "asylum seeker", would get what's called life imprisonment in Germany, meaning 15 years in prison.
It's gotta be the saddest thing imaginable to lose any child, much less an 18 y/o just staring out. The German people are hip to that, and plenty of talk (that was allowed, at least) about the contributing factors to this murder was heard. The Globalist/Commie scum Angela Merkel was mentioned, though at trial prosecutor Eckart Berger admonished:
"on trial is a criminal offender and not Germany’s refugee policy”.You want a fair trial, sure. What happened to that "if it saves just one child" stuff we used to hear when gun control is pushed, though?
Reckless endangerment - 1 million counts?
The thing is, with the Tessa Majors' murderers, their ancestors have been in our country as long as most of us. Yes, it was a very big mistake, and the violence from a (fairly large, when you think about it***) subset of the black male population has had to be dealt with for a long time.
You don't go purposely importing this violence! As we've written before, the Europeans used to have a habit of disparaging America for its racial conflicts. You won't hear much of that anymore. They may "feel our pain" a bit now. It's sad a whole continent (at least the western portion) had to learn about this stuff the hard way.
Yes, we're now following the Euros in this, with not nearly as many Moslems, but some of the very violent gangs, with ancestry going back to the pre-Columbian savages, from down south.
* Yeah, black - you read it here first(?) ... well, damn close, I'd guess.
** There's your extreme vetting, folks.
*** Maybe 12 to 45 y/o's?
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Trump's letter to old lady Pelosi
Posted On: Wednesday - December 18th 2019 7:48PM MST
In Topics: Trump US Feral Government The Neocons Legal Stupidity
(I really can't put up another picture of that broad, for fear of crashing the server.)
Honorable? I'd have expected at least "Execrable". Maybe that's on the envelope.
Peak Stupidity has tried its damndest to ignore the Bread & Circuses operation that has taken up the last 3 years of 24/7 airtime. At this point, I suppose the rubber meets the road and we'll see if the kibosh can be put on this charade. However, the D-squad has already won, just in that they have distracted President Trump and a whole lot of the American people for 3/4 of his first presidential term (yeah, I think this impeachment effort will bring out the vote in '20).
I just read the President's 6-page letter to Congress-scold Nancy Pelosi, lambasting her and the Blue-squad for abusing a last-resort power that was not meant to be used for political means. Our favorite literary pundit, Miss Ann Coulter, just explained this better than Trump did in the letter (see Article I—Remove This Beast From My Sight!), making me wonder if she's back in his good graces and had some influence on the very decent writing in it.
I am so glad to see some writing out of President Trump more serious and readable than one of his tweets. Ann Coulter aside, he probably did get a good deal of help in wording this letter, as most Presidents have.* This letter does go around in circles somewhat, though not nearly as much as his campaign "speeches" did and still do. That makes me think Trump may have written a bunch of it. Here's a good excerpt:
Any member of Congress who votes in support of impeachment—against every shred of truth, fact, evidence, and legal principle—is showing how deeply they revile the voters and how truly they detest America’s Constitutional order. Our Founders feared the tribalization of partisan politics, and you are bringing their worst fears to life.Of course, as he writes, this impeachment effort has been going on since a week or so after the '16 election. I will never know, and the President didn't write about, how much of his time was wasted getting distracted by this vengeful effort.
One other thought came up, after I read the following:
I would think that you would personally be appalled by these revelations, because in your press conference the day you announced impeachment, you tied the impeachment effort directly to the completely discredited Russia Hoax, declaring twice that “all roads lead to Putin,” when you know that is an abject lie. I have been far tougher on Russia than President Obama ever even thought to be.See, now the Cold War has been over for 30 years. It's not the Soviet Union, it's Russia. Why do we have to be tough on Russia to begin with?
Has the 3-year-long impeachment effort also been pushed by the Neocons as reverse psychology? This guy does have more ego than strategic smarts. Could it be that the tie-in to the ludicrous "collusion by Russia" was done at the behest of the Neocons, in order to get Trump to get tougher on what should be an ally country in order to show the D-squad up?
* As good as Ronald Reagan's own words were, from back in his Illinois radio station days, through his years at GE, and on to politics, he still had (unfortunately) the moronic would-be bimbo Peggy Newman to write speeches for him. Why??
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Hacking the Nerf Nitro Throttleshot.
Posted On: Wednesday - December 18th 2019 10:24AM MST
In Topics: Cheap China-made Crap Curmudgeonry
The term "hacking" really ought to only apply to the dismantling or kludging of software, so this is the one reverse cultural appropriation Peak Stupidity will do. That is as opposed to all the terms the software geeks misappropriate from real life hardware (which I believe ought to be another post). Don't worry, then. This post is not what you might think from the title. It won't be too geeky.
"Disassembly not recommended."
The Nerf Nitro products shoot out foam cars. Why? Ask a boy. I just looked up some of these to find the name of the toy in question here, and I believe Nerf is trying to combine guns with Hot Wheels. Nerf has the market saturated as far as foam toys go. (I think they started with the footballs.) NerfCorporate says it's high time to diversify some more, so, yes, let's have guns that shoot foam cars. Ours, shown above is just the basic stocking-stuffer $10 item that my boy received well before Christmas. From the topic key Cheap China-made Crap above, the reader may be expecting a report of some bad or missing parts. Well, it's sort of like that ...
See, per NerfLegal, I'm assuming, this car was made with a couple of interlocks to force the kid to shoot it only at ground level - the cars will speed on out - and it's made to only shoot out the Nerf cars. The former mechanism is simple. We noticed there's a button (basically) sticking 3/8" out on the bottom, and the pushing of it due to the resting of the gun on a surface will enable the trigger mechanism.
The 2nd interlock is damn tricky to figure out. We were not even trying to hack it - well, OK, my boy wanted to shoot out some other stuff first - but he was resigned to foam cars only. No, I could not for the life of me see how that one worked. While trying to teach the kids not to look down the barrel of ANY kind of gun, I put it in the light, but damn if I couldn't see how Nerf had this working. The cars obviously pushed on something in some way, but I couldn't explain it.
Well, what do you do but take it apart to find out, right? That was my (bad) idea, not the kid's, but I like to encourage the taking apart and study of mechanical things. We took out 6 screws, and things started to fall apart right away. "That's what you want." one might say, but no, plastic parts were rattling around before we could really get a view of what we were interested in (that 2nd interlock mechanism). 3 parts ended up on the floor besides the body of this gun.
Straight to the trash with them after this post.
One of them, top right in the picture, was obviously the of the 1st interlock - simple. One spring was going nowhere, but you know the end has to go to a hole or pin. I figured out where the 2nd part, the hook/latch at the top of the photo, OUGHT TO go, but it didn't ever fit. The 3rd part, the small cut-off-rectangular one, was a complete mystery.
I told the boy that I was sorry, but we were never gonna use that thing again. Man, it didn't even have a chance to break! Still, I didn't give up, and played with this for 1/2 an hour. Finally, really pissed, at myself really, for not getting it, I went to
Yes, there was a guy taking apart one of these Nerf Nitro Throttleshots. This guy WAS "hacking" the thing, as he put in a stiffer main spring for a higher foam-car-exit-speed. This one spring shoots the car, and I'd had no problem with it. I always admire those guys who put up a demonstration videos. It's very selfless of them. I doubt he was gonna monetize his efforts, as NerfLegal probably does not like that video one bit. (Come to think of it, I doubt they'd like this post, either. Read on a bit more.)
Unfortunately, though we watched it a couple of times, the lighting and angle in the video did not allow me to figure anything out. As I was about to start throwing things away, I had an idea about just putting together what I had and seeing what exactly wouldn't work. After all, the trigger mechanism itself was OK. I put the screws back in and, Wallah!, as the kids say, this gun would still shoot foam cars.
What did those parts do? All 3 of them were just part of the 2 interlocks (the 1st I already knew about), but surprisingly did not have any other functions (support of anything else) to stop the thing from working! Not only that, but who wants those constraints anyway? Serendipity, I tells ya'!
After all, why should you have to shoot foam cars on the floor and not in the air?* Why can't you shoot whatever will fly out of this thing? We paid our 10 bucks, well, a gift-giver did! We don't neeed no steeenking feeetures, man!
What were once vices are now habits, and what were once features are now bugs.
* We could have disabled that one by simply taping the button.
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Chinese tourists taking their
Posted On: Tuesday - December 17th 2019 8:36PM MST
In Topics: China Economics Geography
(Zerohedge has become pretty much the De Beers of stupidity, nay, it's the mother lode itself. I'll try not just to keep going there for material - I may end up reading comments there for an hour. This one is kind of up their old-fashioned financial alley, partly.)
Note that these are Jan-May numbers only, just for year/year comparison of the busiest season. There are a lot more than 1.6 million Chinese travelers outbound to the US per year, then.
Zerohedge says "China Tourism To US Expected To Drop During Lunar New Year", the slight drop seen supposedly attributable to the trade war*. Whatever. Zerohedge is not good with details, unless it involves some magic numbers for stocks or funds, based on that technical stuff. Therefore, I'm not sure if these outbound bookings, taken from airline information, include visa information. Can return travel by Chinese people in America who come back to China for vacation be part of this? That's a big thing during the 2 week Chinese New Year period.
Really, I don't care much. Peak Stupidity wrote our post about the Chinese tourists, dubbed "The Ugly Chinaman" last summer after seeing the tourism in Europe. As I wrote, more power to these middle-class Chinese people for working hard to get the cheap deals in order to learn about the rest of the world. However, for America, tourism of any kind is not really something that ought to be the be the be-all/end-all for a real economy. Sure, NY City (because "... I wouldn't wanna live there" and all that), Charleston, SC has lots of old stuff, and then there's that biggest** ball of yarn in Cawker City, Kansas.
Tourism is called an "industry", but it's not, by definition. Tourism requires lots of service jobs, which are mostly not high-paying. It requires the population to be told to be nice and have smiling faces. That's not my job though - I have a job. To this day, I can still remember a bumper sticker I saw more than once in central Florida in the '80s that said "Welcome to Florida - Now go home!" Tourists are annoying, and if you have a beautiful place going, why would you want to share it with picture-taking, bad-driving tourists? Maybe one can get a slight bit more peace and quite in the national parks this year. (Granted, if you're a real hiker, this tourism thing shouldn't affect most of your trip. There are no phone chargers on the trail, weeding out 99.8% of the tourist set.)
You're better off having manufacturing of all sorts of things as the basis for your economy. That is what the "trade war" with China is about anyway. Let the tourists go elsewhere. Per ZH:
Chinese middle class, some of the richest in the world, is expected to abandon the US for Japan, Thailand, and South Korea, during the holiday week next month.Oriental tourists are going to visit places in the Orient? Well, sure French people go to Spain, and so forth, but that seems somewhat far-fetched that this "abandonment" will go that direction. I have a feeling that the travelers to Thailand and Korea are not your low-budget tour group people, but more your low-budget hooker aficionados.
Anyway, this is not a worrisome development. Even tourists from the other side of the country are an annoyance lots of the time. With the exception of the chamber of commerce and service industry people most residents of tourist area enjoy getting a break for part of the year, with NY City being an exception:
* Kind of misnamed, just as our "Civil War" was more a war of northern aggression, or at least "the War between the States" than a true civil war. How about we call this thing the "Crusade for Fair Trade"?
** That's by diameter, not necessarily mass, mind you.
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The ctrl-left has a problem with democracy
Posted On: Tuesday - December 17th 2019 11:14AM MST
In Topics: Commies Elections '16 - '24 Lefty MegaStupidity Trump ctrl-left
(Image straight off the Zerohedge article)
Aren't these the same people that call the alt-right and conservatives Nazis and the like? They want fairness and openness, and everyone and his felon brother should be able to vote.
The left has been pushing the franchise (voting rights) for all for a century now, starting with non-property owners and culminating with the really big screw job of forcing the States to allow women to vote. The denouement in America was Amendment XXVI to the US Constitution in 1971, letting 18 y/o know-nothings vote, because anyone over 30 should not be trusted. Should we be listening to those lefties that have gotten well past 30 y/o now, pushing 80 or so?
They needed this in the 1960s when the establishment, that is academia, government (for the most part), and even part of the media was still conservative. More votes were required to change the establishment and stick it to the man, at least for those of the left not prone to violence at the time. Well, it's not working out perfectly for the ctrl-left, STILL. WTH, man?! Someone like Trump was not supposed to be able to get elected anymore. The time-wasting and distracting 3-years-running impeachment infotainment is what they have reacted with.
In England, though he's not much to write
There's more to this that I'd like to write about in another post. I don't think it's any grand conspiracy, the people involved being too stupid to operate one, but what has happened for years is this: The ctrl-left will call Nazis, tyrants and the like appellations, Presidents and others who are really not that awful far from their own positions to begin with. George W. Bush, not any kind of Conservative, is a perfect example of this. Let me explain this in a post to come.
Look at these idiots out in the street. It's not like Boris Johnson is the 2nd coming of Maggie Thatcher - we wish! He's just slightly to the right, on that one issue of independence, than the other fool. Listen, lefties, if you don't shut up and respect the decision of "the people", we'll sic Jimmy Carter on you next time!
* Ha! Zerohedge even censors its own titles with the asterisks now. Sure, I don't want the whole thing full of profanity, but the comment section has become less inspiring with those computer-generated *** inserted into the cuss words.
** BTW, I'm not enamored at all with most of it, as the original idea of the United States of America was for it to be a Constitutional Republic. I distinctly remember hearing about that. It requires some voting, sure, but mostly by local individuals that we trust to decide for us AND adherence to that often pesky US Constitution.
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Grid Girls Gone
Posted On: Saturday - December 14th 2019 7:08PM MST
In Topics: Music Political Correctness Feminism
(This is one of the last few of the open tabs i meant to comment on. Dang, it's from 6 months ago.)
Per a click-bait* article on Zerohedge called "F1 Grid Girl Ban Infuriates Dutch MP: 'Only An Idiot' Sees Beautiful Women As Problematic", just one more bit of fun has been "cancelled" by the influence of feminism.
These girls are hired for their looks, of course, with, per ZH, requirements as to circumference at the chest of 95 to 100 ... no CENTIMETERS. I guess the fact that not every girl is beautiful enough to show (a lot of) herself at these Formula 1 races has certain other women upset - more likely jealous. Is that a reason to ruin guys' fun everywhere? Yes, apparently it is, and that's the way things are going. It just takes a few, weak corporate folks that cave, and it's over, usually for good.
I've been to a Formula I race once, but with seats that we could barely view the racing cars from, much less any of these grid girls. The window is closed now. Well, if Peak Stupidity is going to go the click-bait route this evening**, we may as well put up some good music that also features some hotties, as far as the video goes.
This is the British band Sweet, earlier known as The Sweet with their 1974/5 song Fox on the Run from the album Desolation Boulevard.
Sweet was:
Mick Tucker - drums backing and lead vocals, percussion
Steve Priest - bass, backing and lead vocals
Brian Connolly - lead vocals
Andy Scott - guitars, backing and lead vocals, keyboards, synthesizers
* Gotta watch Zerohedge on this though. Many of the articles with thumbnail girls pictures have NO pictures in the article ... very disappointing.
** Actually, it's not really, as you know we don't have headlines, just the articles themselves, but you are welcome to click top or bottom to comment, anytime.
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Faucet Shark and Customer "Care"
Posted On: Saturday - December 14th 2019 10:12AM MST
In Topics: Websites Salesmen Curmudgeonry
I don't mind at all showing this logo here, but I won't link to them. I hope they somehow read this post too, the idiots!
This anecdote is about the importance to us curmudgeons of human beings being involved in customer service and the beauty of the free market. It involves an old shower mixer that has been leaking enough water to cause a 25 to 50% rise in our water bills for many months now. Yes, I have fixed it before with rubber washers that I was able to find 16 years back (from looking at a receipt), but my money-losing procrastination was due to my knowing about how poor American industrial and DIY infrastructure*, and how much trying to find parts would raise my blood pressure.
This whole assembly was going to have to be replaced, as we were torquing on it enough to mess up the power-screw threads. This put an urgency to it, meaning, I got on the web. No, first, I called the original manufacturer, Kohler, in Wisconsin. After 5 or so key-presses and some hold time, you do get a live human being. That was a relief. The bad news was that it was a lady who knew nothing about the hardware and wanted pictures sent - that's fine, but I still never heard back and was pretty sure she didn't give much of a damn to figure it out either.
Water was still heading down the drain, so I did get on the web. Wow! There, before my eyes, was this 50 y/o assembly for $160. Why didn't I do this months ago?! I'll tell you why. I needed to talk to a person still. Wait, the young reader may say, "you just click on this, enter your card, and Viola or Violins or something. If you've got a question, send an email."
Listen, young people, this may sound like it's because I just can't keep up**, but let me explain why that's not the reason. The unit was to come from China obviously, not just manufactured there, like everything, but drop-shipped, as the delivery time was in weeks. That's what I wanted to know about, exactly. Then, I had a few questions to make sure this was the right mixer, that any savvy mechanical sort could answer quickly.
It really comes down to the following though, not just for this specific shower/tub faucet, but for all dealings on-line. For most websites out there, I initially have no confidence in what I see on the screen. I don't know for sure that the information I input will really result in the right things going into the database and the right things being shipped to me. I have no confidence that an email will be read by a human who will actually think about it and answer, rather than be replied to by a piece of software or by a human that simply pastes in stuff from the FAQ. (I've read the FAQ, assholes!). No, automated stuff does what it is programmed to do, and I have no confidence that anyone or thing on the other end will do what I paid for until I talk to a live human being, period. That's what it comes down to for me.
For amazon and a number of other sites I know, such as internal company ones, well, I've seen them work right, over and over, and I also know that I can call people when something doesn't. For some unknown "Faucet Shark" supplier, I just wanted to get a person to nail down that delivery time (might have been a problem, as the current faucet was getting precariously close to failing completely, running water through with no shutting) and get a little more information to be confident this was the way to go.
There's that phone number on the Faucet Shark website you can see above. I called it.*** Sure I got the treatment that one mostly gets from small business today, as humorously related in "Please continue to hold .. a Peak Stupidity blogger will be with you in a moment ...":
The next anecdote is fairly amusing, as I had called this small operation that makes, or at least probably just sells and ships anymore, a type of specialty battery. The thing is, it'd be a 3 year-period before I'd have any questions each time. Hey, I learned after some time it's always Hector! I started remembering every few years that, yeah, he's the one guy, he knows his stuff, and he's a pretty fun guy to talk to. "All of our associates are busy right now. Please press 1 for a call-back or stay on the line.", I'd get some of the time. "Hello, Hector, what happened, did you have to go take a dump?", I'd inquire, when he got a chance to talk. He was kind of amused and in no way did he deny that either.Fine, act like you have 50 cubicles with Indian guys named Josh, Jeremy, and Justin with headsets on answering 100 calls a day on rotating 8-hour shifts. That's amusing, I know better, but just answer. Nope, you go through (mercifully) only 2 button presses than hear hold music for a minute, then get voicemail. "OK, I got it", I thought, "it's just the one guy who's at lunch or in the bathroom." He didn't call back the one day. I called 5 more times with 2 more messages left over 2 business days ... while the water was dripping, dripping, dripping. Nothing.
I guess it must be advantageous for most businesses to seem like larger operations than they are in reality for customer confidence reasons or what-have-you. Myself, I am glad to hear a business is small, most times, as I know I can deal with them as human beings and not corporate drones. Ever try to get 10% off your meals at McDonalds, even if you are their best customer*? It won't work.
This was the 3rd message: "Nice job losing the $160 order. I'm getting it elsewhere." I did a little more searching and got another site showing this old Kohler assembly. It was 30 bucks more. I tried the phone number. Bingo! No button presses, no holding, just a freaking guy on the other end, and of all places in downtown New York City, Manhattan, that is! Wow! What a pleasure it was, and I told him so first thing. Then we chatted about the items in question for 2 or 3 minutes****. The part was on hand and came in 3 days (no tax, free shipping). 15 minutes later, it's all fixed.
It was 30 bucks more. Time is money. Stress costs money (in the long run). NYRP.com, you guys rock! Faucet Shark, you don't wanna answer the phone? Go fuck yourselves!
* See China vs. America and the local hardware store and DIY and mechanical aptitude in Americans vs. Chinese - self rebuttal.
** No, I am fairly computer savvy and even worked in the business for a while. Yes, I can "chat". Yes, I can send emails with attachments. Yes, I can tab through an html form quickly. I can even make my own emoticons ;-} Read on, back up there ^.
*** Try it, readers. If you get someone, please let me know in the comments (Type in "PS" before any other writing, in the comment body.)
**** Think about it. Even if you are just one guy in a studio apartment with a website and manufacturers in China that you drop ship from, or more likely, a small office, get one guy, just one guy! (OK, it could be a girl if it's nothing too technical.) It could even be someone who just carries the specific cell phone around and works elsewhere or in other aspects of the business. You just lost $160 that you probably made $100 on. Do you know how many times that happens a day? I guess not, if you don't check the voice mail.
Comments (2)
An exercise machine, Tal Bachman, and a Controversial Commercial
Posted On: Friday - December 13th 2019 9:36AM MST
In Topics: Music TV, aka Gov't Media Feminism
Thanks to commenter Dtbb for pointing me out a quick silly story that is pretty much right in my wheelhouse. Peak Stupidity has a sub-fixation* on exercise machines. we like Tal Bachman (or at least the one song that we know, which is involved here), and well, we hate TV. OK, "2 out of 3 ain't bad", said a guy named after a hedonic substitute for top sirloin.
I watched the controversial commercial in question, and could not for the life of me figure out what the problem was. Of course, it's a little over the top and sappy, but that goes with with the territory, sales to women. Here, watch it first, and note the great Tal Bachman song, She's so High, featured here more than a year ago on Peak Stupidity:
This Peloton exercise bike is a normal sit-down one versus the recumbent ones that are easier on your back, if you do this stuff a lot. I just looked on a site called exercisebike.net, along with the rest of the web, and I don't think they make the recumbent type. That's gonna be a problem for me, but I don't think it's the problem here. Oh, and the lady is shown watching some silly TV shows, which is a problem for me only if you can't turn that shit off and just see the numbers. No, that's not it.
"This commercial is controversial!
AND, the rent is TOO DAMN HIGH!...
HIGH above me ... 🎵♬
See, Jesse Jackson and his Jackson 5 Race Hustlers ought to get in on this, as at least I've come up with an original chant for them that rhymes. It doesn't matter how stupid, "if the chant rhymes, we'll extort those dimes."
My thought above, about the sales to women, likely explains the controversy over this exercise bike commercial. See, the man who bought this machine for Christmas has done it to help keep his woman in shape. She's not at all overweight to begin with, but maybe they couldn't find a stunt double for this. Could it be that the husband wants to have his wife a little firmer, as that is better for reasons of, well, sex? Could that be the problem? I know that anything that is done just to please men is a big no-no for the feminists. I believe that's what this comes down to.
It's not cool to show women doing anything to get their bodies in better shape to please their men. Fat is supposed to be no problem now. Ask anyone. I would say the Fat is Beautiful crowd could be behind this protestation, but then, again, the woman was not any fatter at the beginning of the commercial. Maybe the machine doesn't work.
Seriously, though, you won't see any men protesting a commercial that shows a guy doing some hard nasty work in order to make a living to support the family**. It's what he's gotta do, and he doesn't do it just for himself. The converse, a woman improving her assets for her husband, is not to be shown on TV. Don't worry people, I hadn't watched it ... until Dtbb pointed it out. I think the controversy, which I don't see how Peloton could have intended, in a New Coke fashion (but it would have been damn brilliant), can only bring the brand name to the forefront and help sales in the long run.
What is perhaps intentionally missed here, is the thought that, even though it's not as likely, women can have heart trouble too. The commercial husband could have gotten the machine for cardio workouts for both of them, though, no, I didn't see him get his ass off the couch. It's not always about calories - gotta get that heart rate up, I mean toward 150-175 bpm, often.
I'll tell you what gets my heart rate up. It's that cutie in the Tal Bachman song in the video for the song in this commercial. As much as I am pleased to see this song get what I imagine will be a big revival in listening***, it sucks to hear only part of a great song like this. Besides the excellent melody, it has a guitar riff that is like a slightly-slower Peter Buck (REM) sound, in addition to good lyrics, and that video from a time when they still cared about making cool ones. (Started in 1980, ended 20 years later?) I read my post with that song again. Haha, while I'd spent that 10 minutes searching through my musical memory from the lyrics, that "like Marlon Brando .." part was obviously not from this song, but from a David Bowie song. The "Aphrodite" and "Cleopatra" parts are what finally got my brain to pull out "she's so high" and let me look it up 20 years later. The internet is good for something, after all!
Oh, yeah, my own version of the commercial follows, as I've got a minor in marketing****: We have the husband grab another package off the porch. It's also from Peloton and is a plug-in (in the REAL sense of the term) to the bike that's an electrical generator. After a call to an electrician (don't do this at home, kids), one of the house circuits can now be powered by this slim lady in a Soylent Green- like manner, as she simultaneously works on getting a firmer ass. It's a win-win. The little girl is seen learning abc's on her Kindle thanks to the power, and the husband is sitting on his ass on the couch playing Call of Duty. "Hey, honey, torque up a bit, and I need you to ride 20 more minutes - I want to watch the college football highlights." The camera pans to the UN auditorium in NY City and fades out on a smiling Greta Thunberg ...
You want controversy, you got it, bitchez!
* Read here, here, and here, for starters.
** maybe even saving a little extra for that Peloton bike.
*** I'd say "air play", but what does that mean anymore?
**** Just kidding.
Comments (7)
Ann Coulter column - Law & Order - Stupid Viewers Unit
Posted On: Thursday - December 12th 2019 11:53AM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity TV, aka Gov't Media Race/Genetics
Peak Stupidity's #1 literary pundit gets another line drive hit and this one is at least a double. That is, she nicely explains 2 forms of stupidity in one column - it may run to two posts here (yes, I've put off a couple of original items for this).
Just typical. It's always the young white ladies in that Gap to Prison Pipeline.
In "Who's Doing The Raping? Immigrants—But Don't Ask 'LAW & ORDER SVU'!", Miss Coulter expresses thoughts about the TV-show agenda that have appeared elsewhere, including right here.
Miss Coulter is her usual extremely witty self, as she describes the pure racial agenda of this TV show, one that I don't watch, but do know that there are multiple versions of, or am I confusing it with CSI? I neither know nor care. The point is that the race/ethnicity of the perpetrators of the crimes in the shows do not at all represent who they are in real life.
In one episode titled “Zero Tolerance,” a white American male sells illegal alien girls to other white American men in a sex trafficking scheme that was somehow enabled by Trump ... SEPARATING CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS AT THE BORDER!!!Haha! There's lots more great stuff.
(The theory of causation is a little vague, but it was definitely Trump’s fault.)
Yes, it's an agenda, but for what purpose? Is it to convince viewers, as with those burglar alarm commercials, to think that the normal middle-class American white people are the people to worry about when it comes to violent crime? Unless there are some really stupid viewers, this ain't agonna work. Nope, I think the idea is to rub this stupidity in our faces, wait, in YOUR faces, if you are one of the viewers. I want no part in this.
Yeah, those were the perps, all right. Nice work.
It's very much like the genderbender nonsense. WE know it's stupid, most of THEM know it's stupid, but they show their power by pushing it and telling us we will be in trouble for stating that, yeah, this is stupid.
Oh, before I that last excerpt Ann wrote this paragraph:
In fact, the modern American white male is the least rapey, most gentle, protective, chivalrous creature God has ever created. Get ready for a gigantic I TOLD YOU SO when American women realize that, from 1620 to the day Ted Kennedy’s 1965 immigration act kicked in, they never had it so good.Do you understand yet why Ann Coulter should be our next President?
Ann Coulter's column gets the more serious problem in the second half. Please read and enjoy her column - TRUTH - feels good, man!
Comments (4)
One Second After - Belated Book Review
Posted On: Wednesday - December 11th 2019 11:19AM MST
In Topics: Preppers and Prepping Books
This is a new thing here at Peak Stupidity, the belated book review. I read the prepper novel One Second After, by William Forstchen, at least 5 years back, maybe 7 or 8. It was a fairly decent book (I'm gonna recommend it), so I have the gist of it and a few details still in my head. I don't feel like going to get it again, so, WTF, here goes. (If this works, maybe I'll write reviews from only Sally, Dick, and Jane material.)
Our Preppers and Prepping topic key on Peak Stupidity is not one we have spent much time on. Perhaps this is because we don't think getting prepared for some pretty bad scenarios to come in America is any kind of stupid. We do have some prepper music - it's not a big genre - here from almost 3 years back that you may want to play in another tab, as you read.
One Second After is titled based on the worries about an EMP (Electro- Magnetic Pulse) whether from an attack on the country, by accident, or just due to nature. Hey, it could happen, and this is one of those SHTF scenarios that COULD be prevented with a lot of long-term work. Hardening, or just different designs, of electronic components in vehicles, important computer hardware, etc. is something that can be done, and I think Mr. Forstchen wrote this book as a warning. Yes, one second after one of these happenings, much of our electronics wouldn't work*. Things would get ugly, first quickly, and then more slowly. I don't dispute the premise of this book.
The foreword by, of all people, Newt Gingrich**, noted that he had encouraged the writer, or all writers, to write of what they know. That's part of the problem that I did have with this book. The writer, just as with Mr. Gingrich, is a history professor. He's no technical guy of any sort and is a man of letters rather than a man of action. Mr., OK, Professor Forstchen did not try to describe too many technical details that he wouldn't know about. However, in this novel, the narrator professor (yes, write of what you know) had happened to get placed in the N. Carolina mountains*** when the event hit and all vehicles newer than non-digital-electronic 1970s models quit running. He just happened to be the man of the hour (many months really), as his history professor skills somehow made him the leader that was needed during the grave crisis. I think this is nothing but wishful thinking on the part of William Forstchen and not something that I could really see happening. The history professor would become history during a SHTF.
The author seems to have put a lot of thought, or reading, into all the problems that would occur, from the lack of working machinery to the problems with diabetics getting insulin, which must be kept refrigerated. Most serious preppers have thought of all of this and more, but this book could clue in those non-preppers, who haven't. The story goes into detail about the struggle and paints no rosy picture of how many people would survive and how. It's pretty good reading with some suspense, and yes, a romance between one of the hotter women who has ended up in Black Mountain, NC and, well, you guessed it, the history professor narrator! Maybe William Forstchen is looking forward to an EMP event.
One quirk, and something I sure wouldn't expect from a professor in the Humanities, is the author's use of the bad English phrasing "he should of" and the like instead of "he should have". No, this is not the characters' talking here. This is the way the book was written, and that erroneous English appeared dozens, maybe hundreds of times. He should of wrote it better than that, right? ;-}. How an editor would not catch all the instances of that same mistake is a mystery to me. I only remember this from > 1/2 a decade ago, because it's pretty egregious for a published and somewhat-known novel.
Lastly, the author showed himself as a Statist at the conclusion of the book. Go figure, but from a would-be prepper no less? This is something of a SPOILER, but the first contact from the outside world (outside of the Black Mountain environs) is from the US Navy, trying to help (as I just barely remember this book). Yeah, right! When the SHTF nation-wide, I don't think you wanna' be counting on the US military. With all the hands-on ingenuity performed by the local men to save their civilization, I doubt any real preppers would count on anyone but themselves and their ammo supply.
If you've read books such as Alas, Babylon or Lucifer's Hammer and liked them, you will probably like One Second After also. I recommend it, but with the qualification that you don't imagine you will be the leader who saves the village and gets the hottie, unless you have the skills - not usually obtained from a career as a history professor (engineering - different story).
* Imagine the GPS signals somehow going out - or being TAKEN out. It's not only position, but just the accurate time signals alone, that a whole lot of machines used in our daily lives depend on.
** This cocksucker seemed like part of the solution to America's political problems in 1994, with his "Contract with America", coming as a great relief and bulwark against the Clinton Socialism, including the Hildabeast's attempt at government-run health care. Alas, Newt and company GOPes broke the contract, and things went downhill continuously, and much faster from that point on.
*** Likely to be one of the better places to escape the madness, as the area is full of white people with the Scots-Irish background, hillbillies, basically, that may be of the stuff to survive a SHTF scenario. This is excepting Asheville, as it's artsy-fartsy-ville at this point.
Comments (1)
Antifa Punch-Out Porn
Posted On: Wednesday - December 11th 2019 10:21AM MST
In Topics: Humor ctrl-left
This is good stuff. In this 45 second video, some antifa asshole has blocked a white SUV on the road. The driver starts off just cussing at the guy. When this brave antifa warrior starts beating on the door of the guy's vehicle, the driver gets out, pushes this warrior for Social Justice to the ground and punches him a copious amount.
This stuff is great to watch. Now, see, this driver is a lone guy. He may yet get in trouble, but I kind of doubt it, since this happened in Texas. Once the antifa guy started grabbing at the door, this good old boy had every right to defend himself, even it's just a lawyer-talk of "I feared for my life." I know the guy didn't fear for his life, but when the lawyer says say that, you say that!
Still, the establishment, even in Texas, is infested with the ctrl-left, so you never know how a situation like this, one-on-one, will turn out in the blind eyes of the legal system. That's why, per Peak Stupidity's continual admonitions, "there is great power in numbers". Get your whole neighborhood or half the town to show up at the courthouse, and you'll have a much better outcome.
"Two thumbs up ... our asses ... " - Iskel and Sebert
"I love that uppercut at the end." - youtube commenter Bobby Old Chedda
"A wonderful, feel-good story for the whole family ..." - Peak Stupidity
"Best Indie short of the year..." - Movie Reviews
"You said that in March, and again in July and October. Why don't you wait until the freaking 31st to decide?! - Chief Editor of Movie Reviews.
"Great casting! Superb set design! Next time, just hold the damn camera sideways ... - New England Journal of iFilmmaking
Here is a link to the Liveleak website page on which I first saw this video. The credit should go there, as it was hard to find on youtube (but I don't know if I can, or how to, embed something off of Liveleak.
No comments - Click here to start thread
Motorcyclist Who Identifies As Bicyclist Sets Cycling World Record
Posted On: Tuesday - December 10th 2019 7:44PM MST
In Topics: Genderbenders Humor
This Babylon Bee is like a full-time parody department of Peak Stupidity. I've read a number of funny posts there linked-to by Steve Sailer (you'll have to hunt around - he writes A LOT!).
On the new Gender-Bender stupidity that is sweeping across the land like pet rocks or the hula hoop, the Bee tells us about a Motorcyclist Who Identifies As Bicyclist Sets Cycling World Record.
It's short - read the whole thing in 1 minute there. Here's the best sample:
Professional motorcycle racer Judd E. Banner, the brave trans-vehicle rider, was allowed to race after he told league organizers he's always felt like a bicyclist in a motorcyclist's body.Is that too obtuse from some of the "woke" Gender-Bender crowd to relate to? If so, maybe they could Peak at Peak Stupidity instead, as we exclaimed "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!".
Comments (3)
Women in Islam
Posted On: Tuesday - December 10th 2019 7:29PM MST
In Topics: Feminism Bible/Religion
(The woman above, involved in some sort of Burka mishap, is from an article about the Moslem Cleric in Australia who compared women to juicy steaks. It caused a big kerfuffle down under, strangely enough because a) what are these people (Moslem clerics) doing there to begin with? and b) Yes they are, but with less saturated fat.)
Sorry for leading off with the girly picture, but our Peak Stupidity editorial staff says that this sort of thing leads to more page views, at least from the editorial staff. This post is a follow-up from the thoughts near the end of our review of the Houellebecq novel Submission and from the ending of the book itself.
At the conclusion of the book, the French literature professor character, Francois (of course!) gets converted to Islam - oops, SPOILER ALERT!! - after a sales pitch by a Moslem university official. The Moslem gentleman had spoken for hours (well not in real-reading-time) about the wonders of the natural world and the universe and how Islam was the best religion in terms of relating the human mind to it. He described how Islam was a way of life as much as a religion. That last is true, I'd agree. However, what sold the protagonist of the novel, an likely lots of men in real life, is the deal with the women.
Islam has quite the different take on women's role in society. It's one that really makes one wonder how stupid this world has become when you note the organized feminists never criticizing the religion. (OK, it's probably just fear of just plain getting their asses kicked more than anything.)
Thinking men would have a different take on Islam's practices regarding women, using both heads. As per the novel, polygamy is practiced, women are not allowed to do much of what Western women spend their time doing, and they are taught to be submissive. The latter is what is taught in the Bible too, but churches need the attendance, money, etc, so that's not bandied about too much ...
Compared to not 1950s America, but the feminized, matriarchal shitshow that we call American culture today, these practices can be very tempting.
In France, Italy, etc., it's been common practice for successful men to have both a wife and a mistress, or so I've heard. This is seemingly the same situation as with the successful Moslem man having a regular wife for raising kids and cooking and then a younger one for other services. It's not really the same thing though, as the former must be done very carefully and under the table, and I doubt would work for as many men as the sanctioned Moslem way. Then, for the former, you've got more headaches, as with anything involving subterfuge and women. Breakups can get a whole lot more expensive than in the Moslem world with your Dorothy from Kansas procedure:
To justify the Moslem way with women, at least the polygamy part, Professor Redinger in Submission explains to Francois: Islamic society advances because the smart, successful men, with their up to 4 wives, will breed, often with large families*. The relative losers in society will not breed at all - no sex for you! Sounds good if you are Mr. Redinger or professor of fine literature Francois.
The reader may have read on the internet all the stuff about Alpha and Beta males, etc., and using "game" to pretend to be the Alpha, and so forth. That sounds good too, if you are one of the Alphas. Perhaps that is partly how modern Western culture works, too, to get the same result, but I don't buy all of it, and it doesn't work when most play by the rules set down by Judaism and Christianity long ago. It's definitely not the way things worked in the old non-stupid America. Unless a man was a complete bum, society and government (or lack thereof) itself was set up to encourage pairing of conservative men and women. Lots more is possible in a Libertarian society, helped out by a small population in an abundance of space.
Fifty years of feminist stupidity has torqued-up the rules of Western society. I don't wonder at all anymore why the Islamic world hates the spread of American culture. I just don't like the Islamic solution.
"Sure", you say, "you're not the Alpha guy, so of course." That's the truth, but then what the hell kind of religion blows off 2/3 or more of the men in it, left to unwanted solitary, childless lives? That's nothing at all to be proud of. Whether it was mostly our religion or mostly the style of government, the Western world has been the most egalitarian** over the last few hundred years, at least. The practices of Islam destroy this egalitarianism just as much as feminism does.
Yes, it's all really tempting, a wife for every purpose, no feminist stupidity, the duct tape thing ... I think the Western world could use some of the concepts regarding the role of women. The polygamy part (not just allowed, but encouraged) is just not the best for the common man. If the religion and the lifestyle it brings about don't help the common man, I don't think it's a good one. No submission for this guy.
"It's a man, baby!
* As far as the evolutionary benefits that this culture supposedly would reap, well, I don't think it's working per theory (and the guy IS a Professor, after all). It's likely other factors, such as common 1st-cousin marriage that are important, along with the oil-rich world breeding a bunch of lazy fucks, but the Moslem world does not seem at all enlightened due to this polygamy-for-the-smart-guys deal. (Maybe there are no smart guys there, I dunno ...)
** Oh, yeah, the Communists really espoused that egalitarianism to high heaven. Once you get in "from each according to his means" mode, and the economic Shit Hits The Fan, the egalitarianists of the Commie world shut up real quick-like about it and shovel down that borscht or white rice before the next guy can get any.
Comments (1)
Ring, Ring, Greta please give me a call ...♬ ♬
Posted On: Saturday - December 7th 2019 8:24PM MST
In Topics: Music Humor Global Climate Stupidity Geography World Political Stupidity
The great graphic above is from a post on Zerohedge yesterday. You know, with the stories they have on that site now, all with loads of usually-hilarious comments, they ought to be named Peak Stupidity. Just read the headlines on ZH right now to see what I mean. Hey, "Tyler Durden", if you want the URL, you'll have to fight me for it, bitch!
Zerohedge points out "Greta Thunberg Enraged After Climate Strikes 'Achieved Nothing', Has Yet To Visit China". That's a very good point. Is it that her yacht doesn't have the range or equipment to make it across the Arctic Ocean, which ought to be free of icebergs now, right? Greta, how's the ice in the Arctic? Any wind forecast? You got sails on that thing, right?
BTW, this would have to be the route to take without taking - don't have my globe on me, sorry - 3 or 4 times the distance of the route across the north Atlantic, and IF YOU'RE LUCKY, some NorthWest passage, but more like down the US eastern seaboard, through the Panama Canal - we don't own it, so no discount for you! - then across the wide Pacific Ocean to Shanghai. Or, would the western-Europe-coast, the Med, Suez Canal, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and S. China Sea be better?*
The Zerohedge article has over 1,200 comments, so you if you are snowed in right now, scroll to the bottom there, and enjoy your day! In the meantime, let me ask the readers this question: Based on the meme above and what you know of her, and based on the 1970s pop music scene, if you could travel through time, would you rather have a free ticket to see the next Greta Thunberg
What's it gonna be, 16 y/o Greta or 22 y/o Agnetha (or if she's busy after the show, you could settle for 25 y/o redhead Anni-Frid)? Wait, we've had this discussion before, but his is just an excuse for another great song from ABBA. Ring, Ring from 1973 was not from an album, but just a 45 rpm single record. I know it from the great "Greatest Hits" album that even amazon does not have**.
So, here is a long distance dedication to Greta Thunberg from Peak Stupidity, as I wait for her call back to meet me at the coffee shop for a large Carbon-free Vente Super-Latte Cappuccino to talk about mathematical modeling of the Earth's entire climate. In the meantime, Peak Stupidity readers, keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars!
I was sitting on my phone.
I was waiting all alone.
Baby by myself I sit and really wonder about you.
It's a dark and warming night.
Seems like nothing's going right.
Won't you tell me Greta how to do math models without you?
Yes I'm down here on the loo,
for a carbon-neutral poo-ooh , oh-oh ...
Ring, ring, why don't you give me a call?
Ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all
Ring, ring, I just plugged my phone in the wall.
I model Earth all alone impatiently.
Won't you please understand hydrology?
So, ring, ring, why don't you give me a call?
So, ring, ring, why don't you give me a call?
Calculating while on a bong,
hey did I do something wrong?
I just can't believe that I could be so badly mistaken.
Was it me or was it you?
Did I miss a square root of 2?
Won't you hear me cry and you will know that my heart is breaking.
Seas are rising, let us not forget,
pretty soon we'll all get wet, oh-oh...
Ring, ring, why don't you give me a call?
Ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all.
Ring, ring, I just threw the phone down the hall.
And I sit on the throne impatiently.
Don't you dare use that tone in front of me,
So, ring, ring, why don't you give me a call?
* For more on the Great Circle route and the non-Euclidean geometry here (I think that's what it is?) see Peak Stupidity's "Moslem call to prayer and the Great Circle route".
** This one has one couple (I don't know if any of the 4 main members of the band were ever couples), on the front kissing on a park bench and back has the other two sitting looking kind of estranged on a similar park bench. There are plenty of other collections, of course.
Comments (5)
Are we past Peak Stupidity ...
Posted On: Friday - December 6th 2019 10:41PM MST
In Topics: Artificial Stupidity Science
... in exercise machines, at least? (no, unfortunately, absolutely not regarding the important stuff)
The accuracy of calculations and displays thereof of power, work, distance, etc. of exercise machines is a niche topic* here on Peak Stupidity, so I won't feel bad if you skip this post. Previously we discussed this pet peeve here, here, and here. Upon using a new set of Precor brand machines, including the TRM 885** treadmill, I found that maybe the stupidity level has been decreased finally. As I've written, it shouldn't be a big deal to hire an engineer for a couple of hours to consult on what calculations should be performed on the raw data of speed and slope (along with any user input).
I believe it's the display unit that has the chips in it to take the raw data (assumed position of the incline motor, perhaps with position feedback, belt speed, and user input on weight, if the latter is part of the program) and calculate and display Calories burned, rate of calorie burn, watts of power, METS, distance covered, distance climbed, and all that. Since this was a new machine, I experimented with it for 15 minutes, while standing on the sides, so I could think. I was pleased to see that some of the stupidity of the other treadmills, calculation-wise, was eliminated.
I wrote more about the exercise bikes in "Peak Torque, Wattage, and Exercise Machine electronic stupidity", and briefly mentioned errors with the treadmills. The big one in lots of those machines is that calories burned, and rate thereof, do not change with the incline of the belt. That is completely bogus. In fact, if you just look at basic mechanical work, in the simple newtonian physics sense, there is no work being done by a guy running at 0 slope. Of course, that's not the real case - real life is hard to model, dammit. No, you have to get to the biology, or exercise science, really, to get reasonable numbers for work being done while running level. Still, slope is a big factor and much easier to calculate (power being dissipated is just runner weight x vertical speed, and vertical speed is the belt speed x slope***) Calories burned, rate of Calorie burned, wattage, METs, or any other way you want to put it, all ought to go up linearly with the incline.
Yes, this was fixed by the Precor people. It's a major breakthrough in the effort to give good numbers to represent the exercise being done. Nice job. Do they read Peak Stupidity over there (where?) - I think not.
The increase in watts dissipated per % slope increase is from just over 5 W/% at 2 mph, and (what should be double ) 9 W/% at 4 mph. This machine, BTW, is one in which the user doesn't input his weight, or much of anything else. If you've read about our experience with the Higi Station (revisited here), you'd rightly get the idea that this is nothing but a GOOD THING. Therefore, with a W being a J/s or N-m/s, and a 4 mph equaling a vertical speed of 0.019 m/s, you get an assumed runner weight of 106 to 118 lb, kind of a smaller runner, but at least in the ballpark. I'd really want to see one of these machines that DID let one enter his weight, and see if the calculations worked out.
Back to the level running for a paragraph, or even changes in speed at a constant slope. For level running, the machine shows 32 W at 1.0 mph, with it going up linearly with speed by 14 W/mph only through 3.0 mph. Then it increases more and more with each 1 mph increment, up to almost 300 W at 10 mph. That's interesting and probably realistic. Maybe they got data from some exercise scientists****.
Now, to address the flaws still seen,
When I just now compared the Watts readout to Cal/min, I got a real problem. 1 W = 1 J/s, so multiply by 1 Cal/4184 J and then by 60s/min to get 0.0143 Cal/min per each Watt. That is 1/5 of the ratio from the numbers I wrote down, as in either Watts are displayed WAY high, or Calories WAY low. I've got to get to the bottom of this later.
This particular treadmill went to a negative slope. I'd never seen that before, but maybe I never tried this. Unfortunately, the power dissipation display (whether W or C/min) doesn't get lower as the slope goes below 0. Should it not?
Whew! I didn't mean to bore myself here. Still it's good to see some reduction in stupidity somewhere. Exercise treadmill stupidity may have peaked back at the Precor model 811 and though not as robust looking, I liked that Bowflex too.
* Oh, a "sub-fixaton" is what we called it in the Bowflex machine post.
** At least I think it was - these exercise machine manufacturers are shy about putting model numbers anywhere. I found an electrical warning sticker on the back that mentioned the 811/835/885, but I'm pretty sure this newest one is the 885.
*** OK, at small angles that works, but, since the belt speed is the hypotenuse of the triangle, and we really want the "run" (of the rise/run), you'd get erroneously high reading of vertical speed and vertical distance for larger angles.
**** No, that's not just a BS major for athletes. I've seen some cool work being done.
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[UPDATED 12/07: ] Turns out that the Calorie/min difference IS linear with the Watts differences, explained above, and after the striked-out old text. Also, changed all mentions of "calories" to Large-Calories, meaning kilo-calories (1,000 of the original definition of energy to raise one gm of water 1 C under 1 atm.) per correction by Commenter Dtbb. I meant that, but didn't make it clear.
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Comments (7)
Submission - Book Review
Posted On: Friday - December 6th 2019 5:01PM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity Bible/Religion Books World Political Stupidity
... submitted for your perusal (get it? nah?)
We're hoping for a single-post review here for a change, as the novel Submission, by Frenchman Michel Houellebecq, was a quick read, so I've got the ideas together in my head. The book is 250 pages or so, but with fairly big type, a small page size, and nothing technical in it to slow things down. It took me about 6 hours to read the whole thing.
Submission was published in 2015 with a story of the near future political changes in France. This involves the rise of organized Islam as a political party major power in France. Yeah, who could see this coming, right? The story, related by narrater Francois, is set in 2022, only 7 years after the Houellebecq wrote it, which is pretty near-term, I'd say, especially now.
The protagonist narrator is a single man and a Professor of literature at the number 3 university in Paris. The author noted in a quick acknowledgement at the end, that he did not attend college, and therefore relied on one Agathe Lechevalier from the Univ. of Paris X-Nanterre to give him the background on the university professor lifestyle. This is a big part of the book, and I think Miss Lechevalier did a bang-up job filling the author in. It's not a lifestyle to be proud of, and I'm not sure if the author agrees, but he sure describes it that way.
Francois, the professor, lives a simple, easy, and hedonistic lifestyle. His PhD dissertation had been an 800+ page analysis of the writings of late-19th-century French author J.K. Huysmans, and his > decade long academic career revolves around criticizing or appreciating this guy and some other French writers. Honestly, I don't feel like looking up Mr. J.K. Huysmans, but I'll take Mr. Houellebecq's word that he's a real guy and that his many works were good. In the book, protagonist Francois sees this author from over a century back as his friend and life guide. Besides this fine literature, semi-irregular sex with a new one of his students each year, lots of wine and some fine cuisine and TV dinners, the professor doesn't really do much else. I don't know if this comes from the author's experience in life or not, as again, he got the university background from someone else.
This professor, though having a fairly easy time of it in life, is not happy with his hedonistic lifestyle. However, he has no inclination to become religious, even though the writer he practically worships had become so later in life, even writing his later books from this perspective. Though he doesn't like his life, Francois does not see any motivation to change either, such as, say, getting married or starting a family - he gives his reasons, which involve, well, selfishness mostly.
The characterization of the narrator aside, the big picture is that there is major political turmoil in progress as the 4 major parties in the French elections in '22 are shifting in power and alignments. There are the Moslem Bruthahood Party and the National Front, that have support from about 1/4 of the people each, along with the other 2 parties that have been around since the beginning of the French 5th Republic (the latter reminding me of our blue and red squads). Things are starting to get ugly. Yeah, who knew that allowing millions people from former Moslem colonies of France might change the future for the worse? In this book, the author takes sides only against the National Front, with actual politician Marine Le Pen named a number of times. He is not particularly against Islam taking over either, from my reading. Don't expect this book to be aligned with your preference of how the culture of the West should progress, if you are a regular Peak Stupidity reader.
Now, the narrater/protagonist Francois, contrary to author Michel Houellebecq, had no interest in politics until the election turmoil started getting serious. I can see that being the case for a literature professor, maybe, though not most of the people in the university Humanities departments. Francois is only concerned about whether the changes that may (and later do) occur will affect his job. That's all. This selfishness explains a lot in real life too.
After about 1/4 of the book describing Francois and his life as an unhappy literature professor, the politics becomes the subject. Due to the antagonism between the Moslems and the Nationalists (with blame, again, put more on the latter),there was violence all over Paris, most of it purposefully un-reported by the media. (Sound familiar?) The way these European elections go, coalitions have to be formed, and since the 1st round had these 2 parties tied up, trouble ensues.
This is where this novel really loses it for about 50 pages. You get the feeling the a SHTF situation is in progress. The one important hot girlfriend leaves the country for good (obviously Jewish, she heads to Israel - who knew?), the University is closed, and the narrator leaves Paris. He stops at a gas station that has been partially destroyed with the cashier laying dead in a pool of blood. More dead people are in a parking lot somewhere. He see no cars on the road for 100's of kilometers he says. You figure this is going to be like One Second After by William Forstchen (a prepper novel that I read over 5 years back and still want to review here). I wanted to see what Houellebecq's vision of what would happen to France during a Moslem takeover would be.
Nope, Francois just heads right on down the road, finds a hotel that's open, happens upon friends from his university and has some kind of 8 course dinner! This author may be good, but he shouldn't be writing action novels. The middle of Submission was his attempt at an action novel, and it failed miserably. He spent 4 sentences writing technical details about his V-8 4.2-liter VW Touareg with common-rail fuel injection. Otherwise Francois knows NOTHING about NOTHING, technical-wise, but he somehow cares about these details for 4 sentences, then goes back to fine cuisine.
OK, it gets better. After the false-alarm SHTF scenario and some visits to old shrines to try to get some religion, as writer J.K. Huysman's biggest fan, the narrator gets back to Paris. Islam has basically taken over the university system, along with other institutions of society. Francois is given a retirement deal from his post with full pay, just because supposedly the Moslem party, under the wonderful Ben Abbes, and the new Moslem (eventual) head of the university system, Mr. Rediger, are worried about possible trouble (from these literature professors, really?) I don't think so.
As the narrator lives in Paris for a while, still unhappy with his life, even with the helluva deal he's got, he is invited to the very engaging Mr. Rediger's beautiful historic house for a pitch to join back up. That means convert to Islam, of course, not just his joining back with the university. At the house, our narrator meets a 15-year old hottie who turns out to be his host's wife. The host's other wife is a 40 year-old clad in pup-tent Islam get-up who can cook like the dickens. Is there really any need for any sales pitch? Mr. Rediger lets Francois know that he can have up to 4 wives, along with talking about the cosmos and Islam as the most realistic religion. Hell, I was about hooked here. Did I mention the first 2 wives already?
This last part of the book really does deserve another Peak Stupidity post, but it won't be so much a review of the book Submission, as a discussion of women in Islam. In that last section of the novel, I don't know if author Michel Houellebecq agrees with the thoughts of his protagonist or not. Is he just laying out the idea that Islam has great appeal for its ideas on the role of women? That IS a big deal for that religion.
This book was not what I had expected. It's missing the story of how things would go down for most French people, were the Moslems to take power. However, since it's a 5-8 hour read, I will recommend this book as fairly entertaining with that big exception in the middle. The last section, with the narrator's submission to Islam is well worth contemplating, and we will, in that upcoming post! (Though of course you'd want to read the whole book for context.)
PS: When comparing this book to another dystopian-futurist novel by a Frenchman, The Camp of the Saints, by Jean Raspail, I find it's no contest. Mr. Raspail's book was prescient about a time almost 4 decades later, while Mr. Houellebecq doesn't describe accurately what will go down 7 years after his writing.
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