ZARDOZ SATURDAY EVENING LINKS

YES! THE COSTUME IS GOOD!

ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. EXISTENCE HAS BEEN AN EXTREMELY LARGE PILE OF SOLID WASTE BETWEEN TWO SLABS OF BREAD. AND ZARDOZ HAS HAD TO MASTICATE IT. GRAIN DELIVERIES HAVE BEEN NON-STOP. IF NOT RUNNING TO THE VORTEX, THE CO-OP HERE HAS ZARDOZ ON THE ROAD ALMOST NON-STOP. BUT TONIGHT ZARDOZ GIVES THE GIFT OF THE LINK TO HIS CHOSEN ONES. ZARDOZ IS PLEASED THAT THE LEVEL OF SNARK AT THE BRUTALS HAS BEEN HIGH. YOU HAVE BEEN LIFTED FROM BRUTALITY, GIVEN THE GIFT OF THE LINK…AND DONE WELL. THEREFOR, ZARDOZ CONTINUES TO GIVE YOU THE GIFT OF THE LINK. GO FORTH AND COMMENT!

  • ZARDOZ SUPPOSES IT IS TOO MUCH TO HOPE THE TWO BRUTAL STATES COME TO CLEANSING, YES? NOT THAT EITHER OF THESE TWO COLLECTIONS OF BRUTALS HAS BEEN ABLE TO CLEANSE OTHERS IN LARGE NUMBERS FOR SOME YEARS… ONE CAN HOPE.
  • ZARDOZ IS EVEN MORE PLEASED. THIS HELPS CLEANSING EFFORTS…. THE SIMPERING BRUTAL CHIEFTAIN OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOW PROVOKE WAR ON HIS NEIGHBOR, RIGHT?
  • SPEAKING OF HOPE FOR CHAOS AND CLEANSING… THIS WILL LIKELY HELP SOMEWHAT. MORE CRACKDOWNS AND SUPPRESSION TO COME. ZARDOZ IS PLEASED.
  • LET US SEE IF ZARDOZ CAN DO THIS CORRECTLY. “YOU KNOW WHO ELSE WARNED OF A CHAIN REACTION BETWEEN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA?”

ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.

Comments

254 responses to “ZARDOZ SATURDAY EVENING LINKS”

  1. DEG

    EXISTENCE HAS BEEN AN EXTREMELY LARGE PILE OF SOLID WASTE BETWEEN TWO SLABS OF BREAD. AND ZARDOZ HAS HAD TO MASTICATE IT.

    Sorry. I’ll share my beer with you.

    1. I dunno if Zardoz would be pleased…but I sure as heck would be with that!

      1. DEG

        /pours some out for Swiss

      2. The Last American Hero

        Those grains weren’t just for bread

        1. Ahhh…is ZARDOZ getting into the beer/distillery business?!!!

  2. Count Potato

    The Italians should demand that France be split into three parts.

    1. westernsloper

      I think they should have a cook off. Whose food is better? Loser takes all the poor people.

    2. Pan Zagloba

      Are you referring to the Caesar division, or post-Imperial Karling shattering?

      Either way, yes. We need Provence so we can give Avignon to the Papacy, so we can set up a proper Antipope.

      1. Count Potato

        Tres Galliae

  3. DEG

    ZARDOZ SUPPOSES IT IS TOO MUCH TO HOPE THE TWO BRUTAL STATES COME TO CLEANSING, YES? NOT THAT EITHER OF THESE TWO COLLECTIONS OF BRUTALS HAS BEEN ABLE TO CLEANSE OTHERS IN LARGE NUMBERS FOR SOME YEARS… ONE CAN HOPE.

    France did have its intervention in Mali. Oh.. large numbers. Right.

    1. Seems to work just fine?

  4. DEG

    LET US SEE IF ZARDOZ CAN DO THIS CORRECTLY. “YOU KNOW WHO ELSE WARNED OF A CHAIN REACTION BETWEEN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA?”

    The link is broken.

    1. juris imprudent

      gasp – ZARDOZ is SugarFree in immortal guise?

      1. Count Potato

        SugarFree would never say “the penis is evil”.

        1. westernsloper

          He would while twisting his nipples and doing hip thrusts. At least that is my take from the last post.

          1. Tulip

            Gah! Not enough eye bleach in the world for that. This is why I am over my booze limit for the week.

          2. *raises glass of Buffalo Trace to Tulip*

          3. Tulip

            Not helping.

          4. DEG

            Not helping.

            I’m also over my booze limit for the week. I’ll take it on myself to alleviate you of being over your limit… or in other words, I’ll drink for you.

          5. Rhywun

            What is this… “limit”?

          6. DEG

            What is this… “limit”?

            For me, it is part of my attempt to get my weight under control. Two doctors have told me to get my weight under control as I am at risk for diabetes and have a family history of diabetes. So far, so good despite my occasional lapses. My weight is lower now than it was at my last physical, though not low enough for my tastes. My last blood work also showed my blood sugar dropping.

    2. Worked for me…

  5. “YOU KNOW WHO ELSE WARNED OF A CHAIN REACTION BETWEEN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA?”

    Bill Cullen?

    1. Count Potato

      I didn’t know a VCR could drop acid.

      1. DEG

        That is an apt description.

    2. AlmightyJB

      Nipsy Russell used to be on all those shows.

    3. Tres Cool

      Dortmunder Actien Brauerei ?

      1. *raises glass to Tres*

  6. Hyperion

    Are you kidding me?

    Sorry, I posted this right at the end of the last article, but it seems sort of important. Just how intolerant and hateful do you have to become before most people turn against you? You know what a death spiral looks like? Look at this.

    1. Raven Nation

      I’ll re-post my response:

      So, Sanders gets kicked out of a restaurant, tweets about it, and Politico calls this an attack by a White House official on a private business. Yes, telling the truth is an attack.

      Also, points to the waiter for this piece of, umm, brilliance: “”I just served Sarah huckabee sanders [sic] for a total of 2 minutes before my owner asked her to leave and she complied,” Foley-Schultz wrote. “Her family left on their own accord, we didn’t actually refuse service or ‘kick her out.’”

      1. Hyperion

        Thanks. This shit has reached absurd level.

        1. AlmightyJB

          Let them show their true colors. They’ll pay on election days.

          1. Hyperion

            Agreed.

        2. Tres Cool

          I made a comment, but the abridged version is “that I’ll serve Sarah Sanders some sausage anytime..”

      2. Count Potato

        It doesn’t sound like the owner is sharpest utensil either.

        “She then huddled with the staff, many who took issue with the White House on a number of issues and some who are gay, and asked them if they thought Sanders should go.”

        1. Count Potato

          And she’s doubling down

          ““Absolutely, yes, I would have done the same thing again,” the Red Hen owner said. “We just felt there are moments in time when people need to live their convictions. This appeared to be one.””

          1. Tres Cool

            So. Brave.
            #HeWillNotDivideUs

          2. Suthenboy

            What ever happened to that fruit loop? Is he in a straight jacket somewhere?

    2. AlmightyJB

      She may be in one of those hipster neighborhoods where her assholeness will be rewarded.

      1. Sean

        Doubtful. Leftists will eventually eat their own. And we all know “get woke, go broke” is a very real phenomenon.

        1. This Machine

          aka “roll left and die”

    3. Rhywun

      “You. You’re a gay. Should we kick her out?”

      Jesus.

      1. Tulip

        Well, you’re gay. Should we kick her out?

        Sorry, just kidding. I agree with you. That’s incredibly offensive.

        1. Rhywun

          I left the plantation long ago. I probably don’t even get a vote.

    4. westernsloper

      So we now embrace freedom of association? Awesome!

      1. AlmightyJB

        Only when it applies to serving republicans.

    5. Rhywun

      This is how free association should work. She wants to have no-Republicans policy, she can deal with the fallout.

    6. Gilmore

      I got my point across in a polite and direct fashion,” Wilkinson said. “I explained that the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation…I said, ‘I’d like to ask you to leave.’ ”

      “i was very nice. I told the stranger i felt they were morally inferior and untrustworthy.”

    7. whiz

      So if a restaurant owner had asked an Obama staffer or appointee to leave because they thought Obama’s policies were abominable, what would have happened?

      My guess: the person would have refused to leave (unlike Sanders, who decided not to make a scene), and the restaurant owner would be crucified.

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        IMPOSSIBLE. It’s not possible someone had a valid reason to oppose Obama.

        Ergo invalid!

    8. Chipwooder

      Bake the fucking cake Serve the fucking meal, bitch.

    9. creech

      Lexington (a college town) went heavily for Clinton, so this move will probably result in a huge increase in business for them. Owner could probably even get away with dissing the graves of R.E. Lee and T.J. Jackson.

    10. Chafed

      This is really pathetic. It’s A+ virtue signaling that will disgust nearly everyone who doesn’t agree with you.

  7. AlmightyJB

    404 on last link

      1. AlmightyJB

        Works now. I got 404 several times earlier.

        1. DEG

          They fixed it and we all look like we’re crazy.

          1. Hey, it is a British tabloid site…who the Hell knows?

  8. Rebel Scum

    Italy says ‘arrogant’ France risks becoming ‘No.1 enemy’ on migration

    Italy may be strikingly unaware of its own history with France. Perhaps they shouldn’t stoke that ember.

    1. Rufus the Monocled

      What history specifically? There’s been, like, 2200 years of it.

  9. Rebel Scum

    Acura Integra – Everything You Need to Know

    I’ve always been a Honda guy, myself. I’ve owned 2, a 1998 Civic EX and my current 2015 Civic Si. They’re fun and reliable. They get a bad rap because of people that don’t know the difference between ricing and tuning (sometimes a fine line). Is what it is. Anyway, whatchu know ’bout muh Vtec?

    1. Gilmore

      i enjoyed that. not sure i could watch him 2 in a row.

    2. Rufus the Monocled

      We owned a 1990 Acura Integra. LOVED that car. The windshield was huge, low center of gravity….it was like a sports car.

      Too bad we didn’t take better care of it.

  10. J. Frank Parnell

    So anyways here’s a Japanese person making a knife out of jello.

    England hardest hit.

    1. DEG

      I wonder how long it took to get the procedure right.

    2. Spudalicious

      I’m going to stab you with my jello knife…in three days!!!

      1. AlmightyJB

        Lol.

    3. Tres Cool

      If only Bill Cosby had shown this to OJ…..

    4. Rebel Scum

      So what you are saying is that we need commonsense jello control.

    5. mexican sharpshooter

      That…is awesome!

    1. DEG

      That building does look like a giant penis.

      1. Sean

        Uh…the tip is smaller than the rest…

        1. Spudalicious

          Reservoir tip.

    2. AlmightyJB

      Ohio is 5.75. We have another 1.75 tacked on for Franklin county so 7.5 total.

      1. 4% in NYS plus 4% in my county so 8% total

      2. Suthenboy

        Some Parishes here are already at 14%. Mine is at 9.5. This is gonna kill ’em.

    3. Rhywun

      Lawmakers did not want to make the budget reductions necessary

      To the bone!

    4. Suthenboy

      We have seen that coming for a while. We had a budget surplus and Jindal blew every penny plus a one time windfall we had. Everyone was screaming their heads off for them not to do it but they did it. We already have relatively high sales tax. This is going to lose a lot of people their re-election bids.

      1. Suthenboy

        Oh, and we have a commie governor now. He is gonna be out too.

        1. DEG

          Hopefully. I’d hate to see more states turn into Massachusetts.

  11. AlmightyJB

    I don’t understand. I thought unlimited immigration and diversity were the greatest thing ever and the height of wokeness. To the point where our betters in the US have to apologize to Europe for our lack of wokeness. But now woke European leaders are complaining about immigrants being a burden, and other countries to take their fair share of “the burden”? I need some progtard to progsplain this to me.

    1. Suthenboy

      Have you seen the youtube videos where people set themselves on fire for fun and amusement? That’s Europe.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD_h05xftxc

      1. AlmightyJB

        “Those teens don’t need to grow up, they’ll just drain society.” Lol. Seriously, I spent 6 weeks in the hospital from hot oil burns (not on purpose) and that was the most pain I’ve ever been in. It’s unbelievable to me that someone would put themselves through that for no reason.

        1. Suthenboy

          It is hard to imagine anything stoooopider than that. Oh wait, we aren’t talking about Europe, we are talking about the dumbasses setting themselves on fire.

          1. AlmightyJB

            Sweden not to be outdone by stupid.

            https://youtu.be/jMUduwZdrDs

        2. egould310

          “ I spent 6 weeks in the hospital from hot oil burns”

          Hey, I like mozzarella sticks as much as the next guy, but when the waitress tells you to “be careful, they’re hot”… you better listen.

  12. C. Anacreon

    I haven’t been on much this busy week. What happened to the button to minimize the arrows on the left border? The current setup hides a lot of text on my phone

    1. Tres Cool

      You give these people your phone number?

    2. westernsloper

      Get a bigger phone.

  13. Spudalicious

    Sarah should have demanded they bake her a cake.

    1. Someone left my cake out in the rain….

  14. Gustave Lytton
    1. AlmightyJB

      It will be a fun few months I’m sure.

      1. Grumbletarian

        You know nothing.

  15. Gilmore

    re: the Italy vs. France bitchfest over migrants and their respective desire the other take-responsibility for them;

    i think the topic is interesting, and there’s lots to point out re: how EU migrant/refugee intake # annually (since the peak of 2015) has been actually quite similar to what the US takes in every single year, w/o much more than ‘same old same old’… and some bitching from Welch et al that its, “not enough”…

    …but that’s not what interests me so much; rather, here’s the top-comment there on that story

    Robbie 3 hours ago

    Whites are only 10% of the world’s population (and creating only 7% of the babies), yet are the most industrious and innovative race the world has known. Whites unlocked the secrets of DNA and relativity, launched satellites, created automation, discovered electricity and nuclear energy, invented automobiles, aircraft, submarines, radio, television, computers, medicine, telephones, light bulbs, photography, and countless other technological miracles. Whites were the first to circumnavigate the planet by ship, orbit it by spacecraft, walk on the moon, probe beyond the solar system, climb the highest peaks, reach both poles, exceed the sound barrier, descend to the oceans depths… Blacks cannot even feed themselves.

    Whites have to provide food, medical, financial, and engineering aid to every Black nation. Blacks cannot survive without White charity.

    No pre-contact Black society ever created a written language, or weaved cloth, or forged steel, or invented the wheel, or plow, or devised a calendar, or code of laws, or system of measurement, or math, or built a multi-story structure, or sewer, or drilled a well, or irrigated, or created any agriculture, or built a road, or sea-worthy vessel. They never domesticated animals, or exploited underground natural resources, or produced anything that could be considered a mechanical device.

    Blacks were still living in the Stone Age when Whites discovered them just 400 years ago.

    Blacks are the oldest race, so they should be the most advanced — but they never advanced at all. Blacks lived alone in Africa, a vast continent with temperate climates and abundant resources for 60,000 years so they cannot blame slavery, racism, colonialism, culture, environment, or anything else for their failures.

    Simply, life is an IQ test.

    my guess is that there is an equal chance this sort of thing is a) a lefty (or perchance even foreign govt/Teh Russians) sockpuppet churning out these stock-comments ….

    … or b) an actual bona fide person who thinks/talks this way.

    I’m open to hearing different odds. Its possible its much much higher likelihood of troll/bot? or less. I don’t really know.

    One thing that convinces me so much of that sort of argle-bargle WHITE POWR stuff is actually just ‘bots’ is how, as mentioned above, they almost never are commenting on the *details* of the story: its just this cut-paste-ranting about White/Black shit.

    Also: that it is such a cheap and effective way of convincing people that there is a far-higher latent “hate movement” than there otherwise is.

    I don’t doubt there are real people out there who think that way and that they churn out similar pablum on the net. Its just that they manage to appear so frequently, on even ‘EU specific stories’, but seemingly pointed toward US audience.

    1. Gilmore

      Footnote:

      I feel this man is genuine:

      “Torpedo20 minutes ago
      Arent Italians just mexicans that live in southern Europe?”

      1. Count Potato

        Si?

      2. Rebel Scum

        I laughed at this but I’m not sure why.

      3. Pan Zagloba

        Now this is quality shitposting!

      4. Rufus the Monocled

        Doesn’t he mean the Spanish?

    2. Count Potato

      I have no idea who posted that. But the Soviets/Russians have been trying to use racial issues to sow discord in the U.S. for decades.

    3. AlmightyJB

      The generic content is pretty interesting. Doesn’t seem like a comment specific to the article. As to whether it’s some Aryan Nation asshole or a Leftist troll asshole, hard to say.

    4. Gustave Lytton

      Racial stereotyping (HT: Heroic Mulatto)

      1. Gilmore

        This was my favorite “racial stereotyping” moment

        (i was like ~15 when the movie came out and it was the peak of racial tension in the NYC area; like, tawana, bernie goetz, crown heights H&R, yusef hawkins, central park 5, etc etc. all in very recent space of time.)

        1. Count Potato

          I forgot Samuel L. Jackson was in that movie. Then again, he’s in every movie.

          1. Gilmore

            I think that movie also deserves a lot of credit for telling the truth when it would have been easier to pander

            Spike lee might be a gigantic douche, but he was smart as fuck about race dynamics in 1980s NYC and he wrote good dialogue & characters. and the story made a lot of sense in the context.

    5. Rebel Scum

      WHITE POWR stuff

      In my opinion, it is a fabrication. Leftists practice a particularly sinister version of ‘divide and conquer’.

      code of laws, or system of measurement, or math, or built a multi-story structure, or sewer, or drilled a well, or irrigated, or created any agriculture

      Every non-Caucasian civilization ever would like a word with you.

      1. Gilmore

        or built a multi-story structure

        yeah, i didn’t even read his whole thing.

        the Yemenis built high-rise apartments like 1000 years before the Europeans moved-past ‘thatched roofs’

        they also built the world’s largest dam, one of the “engineering wonders of the world”, when europeans were making their homes out of sticks they found on the ground..

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marib_Dam

      2. Count Potato

        Non-white people in Asia and South America clearly did all those things. It’s not a completely insane description of sub-Saharan Africa.

    6. westernsloper

      Back in the day at the forming of Breitbarts popularity I would occasionally comment there on Disqus and that is standard fare for a reply in my experience when pointing out blatant racism. I think they are real people but I am not wise in the ways of bots these days. My knowledge of bots ended when MSN chat ended in the early ot’s and I lost the best chat handle ever thunk up. Back then life was simple and bots only tried to sell you useful stuff like signing you up for work at home jobs. Now they steal elections.

      1. Gilmore

        I think one of the easier ways for “bots” to be convincing is to simply collect shit from “places where people rant about racist shit” (e.g. stormfront, breitbart, taki) and then cross-post the content in places where its going to get far more exposure in the mainstream.

        iow, i think the methods of the shitposting is sophisticated enough that they don’t even need to create their own content.

        but i do suspect that the motivation for the shitposting is not what it appears to be superficially. i think its very-conscious attempt to provoke discord.

        1. westernsloper

          but i do suspect that the motivation for the shitposting is not what it appears to be superficially. i think its very-conscious attempt to provoke discord.

          I don’t doubt it. I am sure the SPLC has bots counting the number of racist shit posts as well as making them to point out how racism is rampant. Hell, given the lefts tactics they will go back in time and change temperature data, I mean add racist shit posts to old threads.

    7. Suthenboy

      Replace the word ‘white’ with American/English/German/Australian and he would probably be right. In my experience outside of east asia most productivity is driven by those nationalities. And they aint all white. It is cultural, not ricial.

      Leaving the John worthy typo so the comment would be accurate for east asia as well.

      1. Suthenboy

        I read it again. I read that hours ago and forgot what all was said.

        Yeah, thats way over the top bullshit.

    8. Pan Zagloba

      It’s a fairly standard fare from “Human Biodiversity” portion of the alt-right crowd. Usually followed by “Nuh-uh, the test showing high Jewish IQ are old and faked and my GENETIC SCIENZE!”

      1. Suthenboy

        Ugh. The IQ standard.
        yes, there are IQ differences shown between ‘races’, however you measure that. Has anyone noticed that there are also wide IQ differences between different cultural groups made up of the same race? And that there is huge overlap between the same race scores and different race scores?

        It aint about race goddammit. It is plain as day.

        1. Rhywun

          The left has spent decades conflating race and culture. They’re not going to stop now.

    9. Bob

      Sometimes people notice reality.

  16. westernsloper

    The elections will also usher in a powerful new executive presidency long sought by Erdogan and backed by a small majority of Turks in a 2017 referendum. Critics say it will further erode democracy in the NATO member state and entrench one-man rule.

    Erdogan blamed the coup on his former ally, U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, and has waged a sweeping crackdown on the preacher’s followers in Turkey. The United Nations say some 160,000 people have been detained and nearly as many more, including teachers, judges and soldiers, sacked.

    But how does he deal with families illegally entering his country? Not as harsh as Trump who is literally Hitler I am sure.

    1. Rebel Scum

      But how does he deal with families illegally entering his country?

      Subject them to Cenk Ugyr?

      1. Rebel Scum

        By the way, Ana Kasperian is SO. HAWT., but she is SUCH. A. CUNT.

        1. DEG

          I believe it is called a hate-fuck.

    2. Enes Kanter has far more courage than Colin Kaepernick.

  17. Can anybody get the streaming audio at https://www.srf.ch to work? It doesn’t work on my phone, tablet (Chrome on both) or PC (Firefox on Linux Mint).

    1. westernsloper

      ^this sounds like a trick

      1. Nope. I like listening to German-language news sources to keep up my German ability. That’s the broadcaster for the German-speaking part of Switzerland. (Things like news are in standard German, not the monstrosity that is Schwyzerdutsch.)

        1. Rhywun

          I was watching Tagesschau regularly for a while but I lapsed.

        2. *narrows gaze*

        3. Count Potato

          Do you know who else spoke German?

          1. Akira

            Sideshow Bob?

          2. The Bart, the!

          3. Peter Lorre?

          4. Rhywun

            Willy Wonka?

          5. DEG

            Mich, aber nur ein bißchen.

          6. DEG

            She’s cute.

          7. Gustave Lytton

            Austrians?

          8. westernsloper

            The people who programmed VW’s to kill our beloved planet?

    2. Rhywun

      Funktioniert gut hier

      1. The TV played, but none of the radio does. I download the news podcast a couple days a week, but I’d like to diversify, and I have data I’m not using up on my phone plan..

  18. Akira

    OT: Enjoying Atlas Shrugged so far (please, no spoilers!). The story has kept me interested so far, and I like the prose style. Honestly, some of the appeal comes from the fact that Lefties fucking hate Rand and her writings so fucking much. I sort of feel like a teenager in the ’50s listening to rock and roll records.

    1. Somebody actually likes Rand’s writing style?

      1. Akira

        Someone on here did mention that it drags, but I’m only on page 135 out of ~1000.

        1. Rhywun

          I never got much farther than that. Good luck, you’re gonna need it.

          1. Akira

            Well damn, sounds like it takes a turn for the worse.

            Luckily (or perhaps not luckily) I have a compulsion to finish any book I start. The only one I put back on the shelf without finishing was The Trial by Franz Kafka.

          2. Rhywun

            I wouldn’t say it takes a “turn” – its style just became unbearable for me. I’ll probably give it another spin some day.

            Kafka? Really? I haven’t read that but I enjoyed some of his other stuff.

          3. Yeah, Galt’s big speech is something like 60 pages. I think; I skipped over it when I read the book.

          4. Akira

            @Ted S.

            “The speech” is probably the biggest reason I was motivated to read it. Tom Woods described the book as being worth reading solely for that speech.

            I like to read books that are controversial and talked about a lot – it’s the same reason I have Mein Kampf (which is dreadfully boring) and The Bell Curve.

          5. DEG

            I managed to finish “The Wheel of Time” series, but I still have not tackled any of Rand’s fiction.

          6. Count Potato

            Oh, I read The Trial. And The Castle.

        2. J. Frank Parnell

          135 pages, that should put you about halfway to the end of the first speech.

      2. straffinrun

        At least it’s kind of unique. Wooden, but unique. Her description of Daphne and Francisco playing tennis is so over the top you can’t help but laugh. Fountainhead FTW.

        1. straffinrun

          Dagny. Dammit.

      3. Rebel Scum

        Rand’s writing style

        I only watched the movies.

        1. westernsloper

          I also watched the movies. I also own the book but never finished reading it because I suck and never finish anything. (Just ask either ex’s.) I thought they really had something with the movies after watching the first one. Number two and three sucked. A high school drama department could have done better.

          1. Rebel Scum

            I saw the first 2 movies. I like the first. I thought the second missed the mark. Never saw the third.

            never finished reading

            I have a growing library of books I’ve never completed or began, myself. A lot of them are history oriented. I really should stop being lazy and read them.

            Just ask either ex’s

            Just ask my current leftist gf who reads a lot. -______-

          2. Tulip

            Meh. Life is short. Read things you enjoy.

          3. DEG

            I have a growing library of books I’ve never completed or began, myself. A lot of them are history oriented. I really should stop being lazy and read them.

            My attempt to solve this problem is to buy books slower than I read them.

      4. Count Potato

        She was a terrible writer.

    2. Don Escaped Texas

      A girlfriend I remember as Lawyer I declared it was her favorite book; she put me in the road after six months. As I’ve written here before, the takeaway there: don’t fall in love with a girl’s horses or parents before she falls in love with you….oh well.

      Farce, parody, and irony have lost their sting any more, but the greatest weakness I found in Atlas was the depths of incompetence Rand built into her antagonists. In my day, I read them to be ridiculous straw men: no one’s that stupid, and she ought to be able to make here case without resorting to farce……it seemed extremely contrived to me then.

      Since, then, people have seemed to become more stupid, but I still think her exaggerations are the book’s failings. In the real world, only billionaires can afford to have crackpot ideas that don’t respect the laws of economics and engineering for long. But building answers, industrializing solutions (what I do all day) is now taken for granted and carries no weight; no one cares what the chairman of Ford thinks about anything.

      Meanwhile, women are taking over the verbal professions; they had a strong say in marketing/sales and teaching already, but now cranking out crap for slate dot com all day from your $800 apartment in Pittsburgh is considered a career. So there are millions of yappy chicks setting the tone and leading the political discourse this day, NTTAWWIT, other than that their evolutionary bent favors socialistic structures.

      What I’m hoping is that Rand is still wrong this far: in the technical world (by which I do not mean coding for Amazon), mistakes go on the ashheap of history quickly. Economists and AskPrudence can be wrong 60% of the time, but the rest of us have to drag home something for the pot every day. I don’t necessarily disagree with Rand and her Pareto-ish notions; I just hate that she painted all her enemies as uber-idiots to make her case.

      1. Rhywun

        the depths of incompetence Rand built into her antagonists

        I remember thinking the same at the time I was reading it (almost 20 years ago). Now… I’m not so sure that she wasn’t spot-fucking-on.

        1. Don Escaped Texas

          I was stumbling around this idea: that kind of incompetence only flies so long in some industries. In my line, you can only sell the first million or so perpetual motion devices before you really start to ding up your reputation.

        2. mikey

          I’m the same way. At first reading I felt the basic truth of much of it, but that things were too simple and overdrawn. Now the villains are pretty much spot on (the Good Guys are still a bit much). You can play “find the Ayn Rand quotes” with the Seattle city council or the EU, Bernie Sanders or Lizzy Warren.
          Most of the major events are based on things that actually happened (the train in the tunnel for instance).

          As to Don’s point about incompetence not being able to last. It’s been over 60 years and GM is still with us. Even Yahoo isn’t completely dead yet.

    3. AlmightyJB

      The only Rand book I’ve read was The Virtue of Selfishness. It was years ago, I don’t recall much about her style but it was a short book.

      1. DEG

        I read a collection of her essays. She came across as quite arrogant and full of herself.

        1. AlmightyJB

          Yeah, the whole objectivist thing seemed pretty cult like to me. Shes definitely arrogant and narcissistic like any good cult leader. I give her props for her anti-communism anti-aithoritarianism though. The world can’t hear enough of that and she certainly had some authority on the subject.

          1. CPRM

            And just look at what her followers like Allen Greenspan flung unto the world by following her teachings…well, by being a follower and then not applying any of that to the FED anyway…

    4. whiz

      I just finished We the Living. A pretty vivid and depressing account of living in a totalitarian state. The writing style was rather plodding — overly descriptive for my taste.

  19. Rhywun

    Just had to reboot my cable box, and it starts up automatically on the local cable news channel. Guess what they’re talking about?

    1. Rebel Scum

      Guess what they’re talking about?

      Crying Hispanic children? Speaking of, I think there is a Quinceañera or something going on a few houses down. I’ve never seen so much Corona in my life. //jk

      1. Rhywun

        Close. It was one local pol after the next expressing their outrage! at this brand-new policy that Trump totally created out of thin air.

        1. Rebel Scum

          Don’t get me started. I sympathize with people that are desperate to improve their lives by coming to the US, but you have to do so correctly. The way our immigration system and it’s enforcement is being portrayed now just makes my blood boil. Pure propaganda all the time “because Trump”. Just yesterday I had to describe to someone what “asylum” is and how one is supposed to seek it (because “asylum” is one of the disingenuous/lying ways “llegal immigration” is being represented in the msm). They were under the impression that “wanting to be here” is a reason for “asylum”.

          I also (without response ) posted this to an acquaintances hysterical fb share with the intro: I give you ‘Donald J. Clinton’. To be honest I am surprised I have not been de-friended.

    2. straffinrun

      I met a group of 20 something tourists from San Fran last night at a bar. Hipster white guys, a black guy (originally from Ivory Coast), a short lesbian dance instructor and a couple white female grad students. They weren’t too bad. A few “Trump sucks”, but otherwise the only complaint I have is that they were boring.

      1. AlmightyJB

        They’re afraid to be interesting. Can’t let that superficial guard down or they might say something not woke and be stranded on vacation friendless.

    3. Chipwooder

      Donald Drumpf maniacally throwing Central American children down wells while fucking a porn star and eating a McDonald’s Apple pie.

        1. DEG

          Seconded.

      1. Gustave Lytton

        Like so many things from MickeyD’s, the quality of their apple pies has declined over the years.

        1. Spudalicious

          They’re no longer fried. One of the delights of childhood has been turned into derp food.

          1. Gustave Lytton

            Ahh. And the fryer oil isn’t beef tallow any longer, even if it was fried.

        2. CPRM

          I always find their attempts to attract ‘healthy’ eaters funny. Those people think anything from McDonald’s will give them cancer, they don’t eat at McDonald’s, but McDonald’s always tries to bring them in by doing things that raise the price for their loyal customers and decline the quality. I don’t think most people who vocally complain about McDonald’s food would eat it if they got it for free, but yet that seems to be the audience they want to attract to their own detriment.

      2. AlmightyJB

        Do you know where those wells are? I need some more laborers.

      3. Is the porn star stamped, “Caution! Filling is hot!” too?

        1. AlmightyJB

          McDonalds stopped using real molten lava

  20. commodious spittoon

    Just walked outside to find my car window smashed, backpack gone, along with the pricey headphones I’d gotten as a five-year gift from work. And the change jar, of course. Joy.

    1. straffinrun

      That sucks.

    2. Pan Zagloba

      You need Magnavolt!

      Seriously, that sucks. Sorry you have to deal with the bullshit 🙁

    3. Suthenboy

      What sort of neighborhood do you live in?

      1. commodious spittoon

        A rather good neighborhood up in the foothills. I rent a room in a large house dad owns. There’s no reason for foot traffic through the area. Other than skulduggery, I guess. I filed a report for the hell of it, and the officer was surprised. Doesn’t happen much up here.

    4. DEG

      Fuck. I’m sorry.

      I think you should be allowed to shoot thieves. Thieves take your property, which you spent part of your life acquiring. You will not get that life back. So, therefore thieves take part of your life.

      1. Don Escaped Texas

        paperwork….when you shoot people, there’s paperwork

        I’m considering some sort of sacrificial bait, like leaving a slice of pizza on the hood; maybe they’ll steal that instead

    5. AlmightyJB

      That sucks. I don’t leave anything in my car that looks like it could even be confused for something valuable. Thieves will steal anything they can carry not welded down. It’s ridicules.

      1. commodious spittoon

        I’m miffed but not angry because I have only myself to blame for not clearing out the car. And it could be worse. I just wish I’d left it unlocked rather than have to replace the window.

    6. grrizzly

      Horrible. And I thought that Albuquerque was a good place to move.

      1. Don Escaped Texas

        You would figure that constitutional carry would have improved comportment in them thar parts.

      2. AlmightyJB

        That stuff happens everywhere where there is any kind population at all. Even the best parts of town are impacted if they’re remotely near any kind of population center.

        1. Suthenboy

          I am lucky in that respect. The geography around here is such that I would be the last victim in the parish. Too many easy pickin’s before you get to my place.

        2. The Bearded Hobbit

          I have to say that the size of the population is a factor. The small town where I live (~750 people) has little crime other than asshole teenagers. The modest-sized town nearby where I used to work (18,000) has a police force that largely deals with old folks dying and arrest warrants from other jurisdictions.

          … Hobbit

          1. commodious spittoon

            I’m pretty sure these were hoodlums bused in from out of town… Probably Shelbyville.

          2. CPRM

            Shelbyville is filled with the worst lot.

          3. Akira

            I live in a southwest Ohio town of about 25,000, and almost all the crime is trashy people fighting with each other out in public. There’s almost no crime that involves a criminal preying on a bystander to whom they have no relation.

    7. Spudalicious

      Gawd, I hate people.

    8. The Bearded Hobbit

      BernCo. We hates it.

      … Hobbit

      1. commodious spittoon

        Man, we get a lot of shit, but

        *stops to consider all the safety glass I’ll have to vacuum up tomorrow*

        Fuck these people! I need to move to the country.

        1. CPRM

          I live in the country, on a dead end. Someone broke into my house last year and stole…a typewriter. Not the TV, computer, filming equipment, guns or alcohol; but a typewriter…

          1. commodious spittoon

            I heard a story earlier this week about Charles Krauthammer, and how he’d gotten accustomed to some early teletype mechanism for logging patient information, and how having to practice the precise dictation of that system ironically complemented his later accommodation in dictating his articles.

            So if you’re going to drag an antique into a coffee shop to punch out some prose, maybe be the Charles Krauthammer of that craft.

          2. CPRM

            The really dumb thing, they broke in through a window, the front door was open.

        2. Gustave Lytton

          I was picking up pieces years after my car door was replaced. Everything was vacuumed up at the time and I was sure I got everything but I’d still find a piece or two every so often from god knows where.

    9. Count Potato

      Sorry

    10. westernsloper

      This is why you should not own a car and only take public transport as well as own nothing of value. Live and learn comrade.

  21. Rebel Scum

    FA-18’s (mostly) dodging missiles – From an awesome, underrated movie.

  22. Count Potato

    I can’t think and watch Emily Compagno at the same time.

    1. AlmightyJB

      That’s what happens when your blood moves all of the oxygen in your brain somewhere else.

    1. AlmightyJB

      Needz moar guitar solo.

  23. Rebel Scum

    I’m in love (with the Asian chick, obvs)

    1. Don Escaped Texas

      Anyone else given up on free content? I click on youtube and there’s a 15 second ad and I pretty much immediately close the window because, really, what are the chances that anything is worth sitting through a catsup commercial? Am I doing youtube wrong?

      1. AlmightyJB

        Yeah no such thing anymore. I think you can pay for ad free maybe.

      2. CPRM

        I use the ‘Screw Youtube ads’ extension for chrome, I never see ads on youtube.

    2. DEG

      She’s hot.

      1. Rebel Scum

        *faints*

      2. AlmightyJB

        She looks so pretty in a dress.

    3. Count Potato

      Hawt. But metal doesn’t have keyboards.

    4. Gustave Lytton

      Brazilian death metal?

      1. CPRM

        I knew a guy from Brazil who complained how weak American metal was; I took him to one very tame US metal concert and he said, “No more, American metal too violent.”

  24. DEG

    Did the font size change or am I drunk?

    1. AlmightyJB

      Your drunk.

      1. DEG

        You’re right. I think.

    2. westernsloper

      Ya, I get that sometimes. I am pretty sure it is Russians hacking the site.

      1. CPRM

        They don’t need to hack it, they run it. I mean come one SP? what’s that stand for? Soviet Propagandist, duh!

    3. Count Potato

      Por que no los dos?

      1. DEG

        ¡Si!

    4. Suthenboy

      Of course.

  25. CPRM

    I had one of those thought thingys. We should vote on the best SF hat and hair, and with a few donations to hire a Trump impersonator I could do a dramatic reading of said story. I dare not animate it, as I do not want to be the one to open the gates of hell.

  26. Gilmore

    I mentioned earlier today i’d discovered ‘yet another retro soul music label’

    “Big Crown”

    I’ve spent most of the day listening to their catalog so far. ~60 singles, a half dozen LPs.

    examples of the best of their stuff. A and B

    both are chick-singer tunes. there’s lots more that’s just thick mean funky soul. but the shiniest stuff are the girls.

    1. Gilmore

      if there is a necessary contrast to that, these would be

      A (linked earlier) and B (not)

    2. Count Potato

      I saw that earlier. I know that YouTube’s sound quality sucks. But those tracks sound mastered way too hard. Berry Gordy, Quincy Jones maybe had a Fairchild run at 1 dB GR or so. This sounds like it was run through a look-ahead limiter on 11.

      Although that The Shacks track reminds me of Saint Etienne, who I love. The space has been squeezed out of it.

      Then again, I have several turntables, enough tube gear to sink a small boat, and you kids need to get off my lawn.

      1. Gilmore

        yeah, i agree the mastering is probably too hard/too loud

        but this sort of retro-soul stuff is competing against @#()$&* dubstep and EDM.

        iow, its probably not the producer’s fault, its the shitty mastering houses who blow the lid off everything in order to make everything equally slammed

        what is interesting, to me, is that there’s a range of content in these small-labels that goes from “daptone” soul/funk instrumentals to “actual pop-single” potential ‘big time’ stuff under the same roof.

        1. Gilmore

          basically – nitpicking about the sound quality seems to me to be missing the point entirely

          its that anyone’s making this sort of music in the first place that matters.

    3. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Thanks for the lead. Some new stuff I might actually be interested in.

  27. Rufus the Monocled

    Macron is stirring trouble.

    The Austrians agains the Germans. French versus the Italians.

    Puff pastry fight!

    1. Count Potato

      I won’t be World War III without Germany.

    1. CPRM

      A minute and a half to get to the music, what is this the 90s?

    2. Count Potato

      That is just awful.

  28. Raven Nation

    Dennis Miller is running a show on Podcast One: https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Victor-Davis-Hanson

    1. Chafed

      Is it any good. In my experience when Miller is on he is great. When he’s not it’s a waste of time.