Last night was far more successful. It started with a failure, though, with the NFL Network app failing to work for the third night in a row. This was apparently universal, since SP’s search turned up thousands of people complaining and canceling their service. Which we did as well. Instead, we turned to the movie recommendations of everyone not named Mad Scientist or Sloopy, and quickly settled on I’m Alright, Jack, hat tip to IObOt. And it was not only a wonderful movie, written and acted to perfection, it was a slice of history which foreshadowed the inevitable crash that led to Thatcherism in England and brilliantly lampooned their class system (right down to the accents). Anyone who has been unfortunate enough to be imprisoned in a unionized workplace will be nodding with sad familiarity through much of this. Peter Sellers does something that most actors are incapable of, but that he could do with seemingly no effort- completely disappearing into his roles. Great flick.

In the now-mandatory category of birthdays and events, today is the birthday of Erwin Schroedinger, he of the eponymous equation and roving penis. Also, Nazi collaborator George Soros, gun safety expert Plaxico Burress, and vastly-overrated guitarist Pat “More Phase Shifter!” Metheny. And this is the anniversary of the death of the last quagga and the discovery of one of Chicago’s great landmarks, Sue.

Not that there isn’t news. There’s always news.

The racist administration of my hometown and their racist police department caught yet again doing racist stuff.

In the video, an officer is seen pushing McGrier up against a wall. McGrier appears to push the officer’s hand away. The officer then repeatedly punches McGrier, who does not appear to strike back. The punches continue until McGrier lands onto rowhouse steps before finally falling to the pavement. The officer then pins McGrier down. A second officer is present but does not appear to partake in the beating.

And inevitably, the racist cop is rewarded with paid vacation. Because totality of circs, procedures followed, and, oh yeah, union.

When even the WaPo is embarrassed by a Prog, you know you’re dealing with some Grade A Prime retardation.

For instance, in an appearance on CNN on Monday, when challenged on the costs of government-financed health care, she answered: “Why aren’t we incorporating the cost of all the funeral expenses of those who died because they can’t afford access to health care? That is part of the cost of our system.”

Huh?

Of course, WaPo being WaPo, there’s a few half-hearted attempts to make her sound not quite as stupid as she actually is.

[T]o be fair to Ocasio-Cortez, the average member of Congress might easily make many bloopers over the course of so many live interviews.

Well, if the best defense is, “She’s no stupider than Hank Johnson,” we’re in for an amusing next two years.

I just don’t even know where to start with this one.

Community members confronted a circle of police in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood over a “bait truck” filled with Nike shoes and allegedly left open by police aiming to lure potential thieves and make arrests. “Y’all dirty, man,” a man tells officers in an online video of the incident published Thursday. “Y’all see kids playing ball and you pull a f—– Nike truck into the ghetto.”

But Norfolk Southern Railway, which operated the truck with assistance from the Chicago Police Department, denied that the sting targeted neighborhood youth and that the truck was ever left open. Three men, ages 21 and over, were charged with burglary last week after they broke into the truck, police said.

Here’s the giveaway:

After the confrontation, however, the white truck is driven away.

Knew it!

There is literally nothing left that won’t kill you.

Shelly L. Miller, environmental engineer and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, recently launched a barrage of tweets linking to research into the effects of gas on indoor air quality; she claims that she “just got annoyed when asked if there was evidence of health effects from gas stoves…” Seriously, anyone who reads this will want to rip out their gas range.

I wonder if barrages of tweets will now replace actual publications on academic CVs?

After scanning this research I can only conclude that gas ranges simply do not belong in our homes, particularly in open kitchens, and should never be used without a properly designed and balanced exhaust system, which is almost impossible to find. And for a modern, well-sealed home with controlled mechanical ventilation, (like a Passive House), just forget about it.

Well, that’s that. I’m going back to rubbing two sticks together.

There’s been a lot of discussion in the comments on the upcoming Dora The Explorer movie. And I have to admit that the definitive comment appeared not here, but 5 years ago at Hit & Run.

Enough About Palin|4.16.13 @ 4:31PM|#

Who are you to judge me??? You have to have men who are moral… and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to assfuck without feeling… without passion… without judgment… without judgment! Because it’s judgment that defeats us.

To reiterate, I would pay ten grand to fuck Dora the Explorer up the ass. Ten Grand.

In sad news, the brilliant writer V.S. Naipul has died.

“I was born there, yes,” he said of Trinidad to an interviewer in 1983. “I thought it was a great mistake.”

I have trouble thinking of any book of his that wasn’t delightful and insightful. “Among The Believers”

A businessman is someone who buys at ten and is happy to get out at twelve. The other kind of man buys at ten, sees it rise to eighteen and does nothing. He is waiting for it to get to twenty. The beauty of numbers. When it drops to ten again he waits for it to get back to eighteen. When it drops to two he waits for it to get back to ten. Well, it gets back there. But he has wasted a quarter of his life. And all he’s got out of his money is a little mathematical excitement.

The comments are, of course, predictable.

He was a reactionary writer with emotion and prejudice mix with misinterpretation of faith, history and his own Indian identity subdued by the English colonial power. The depth of his self-identity was reminiscent of his past living in poverty and coping with Hindu values he was raised with and living under the wrath of White Christian colonial hegemony.  His writings are full of crisis and the story of poor brown man subjected to power.
Yet he would contradict himself in the same pros attacking one religion and subjecting himself to the power of another without the same critique.

Among The Believers was the last book of his I read, and the insights from 1981 are particularly poignant today.

Old Guy Music, this time featuring a guitarist who, in a just world, would be living in mansions and driven around in Bentleys in the manner of pop music hacks without 5% of his talent and creativity, Bill Frisell. This is a live version of a very avant garde and difficult tune, John McLaughlin’s Follow Your Heart aka Arjen’s Bag, a blues-based composition in 11/8. And Joey Baron does a wonderful job here as well.

Scientific fact: 98% of you will hate this.