Et tu, Barry?
Posted On: Wednesday - April 5th 2017 6:18PM MST
In Topics: Genderbenders Music
Barry Manilow is gay now. That is all.
....
No, wait, it's not really a big deal. Listen, if you've lived in the western world for long, you've gotta know that nobody really cares about this too much. Yeah, many people may not agree with that lifestyle, but not 1% of Americans are in favor of STOPPING the practice of
Musical artists, not to mention cabaret show cast members and hairdressers, have been given a break for a long time - people almost expect this. PeakStupidity just has a problem with the song lyrics from these people, though. With respect to this great obscure Elton John song, we could not figure how the words could be changed properly to reflect the thoughts of a gay man (course, he had Bernie Taupen writing lyrics, so ...?). With the song featured tonight, a beautiful tune from the mid-1970's, it would not be too difficult to change the title and lyrics to "Andy", formerly "Mandy" and make it work. I guess an Andy could "stop him from shaking" just as well as a Mandy, I suppose.
I should probably refrain from interpreting lyrics anyway, what with my chronic case of lyricosis. It took PeakStupidity 3 1/2 DECADES to come to the conclusion that Jimi Hendrix was not gay, from my first impression, listening to him exclaim "excuse me, while I kiss this guy!".
Mr. Barry Manilow "Reveals Why He Didn’t Come Out for Decades: I Thought I Would ‘Disappoint’ Fans If They Knew I Was Gay" He had many girl fans, and I think he made a wise bidness decision.
Lastly, here is Dunder-Miflin Scranton-branch office manager Michael Scott's take on the matter. He seems to always put things in a good light:
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Peak Stupidity is an Equal Opportunity Offender
Posted On: Wednesday - April 5th 2017 5:50PM MST
In Topics: Humor Political Correctness Geography
Lately, after our post about Moslem prayer, along with a few hundred other blog posts that may be deemed offensive to some sensitive folk, we feel the need to reiterate our never-before-stated offense policy.
Here at PeakStupidity, we take great pains to ensure that we are in full compliance with all US and UN statutes that enforce Equality of Offensiveness. We strive to exceed the standards of excellence in this area, nay, strive is too weak a word, we ARE "best in class" in offensiveness. We wish to assure our readers that we are indeed an Equal Opportunity Offender, and if you don't like it, please just GTFO of here.
As an example we will follow up our post on Moslem prayer with respect to long-distance navigation with some religious "equal time".
Wait, though, first let me explain something that would have made the last post too long. At first thought of the concept of the Great Circle route, one may wonder why the East-West travel is only where the GC course is important. Look at the globe again, or think about one, and you'll soon realize that longitude lines are drawn differently than latitude lines. Since the longitude lines all fall on circumferences of the sphere, called the World, any North-South route will be the quickest along a line of equal longitude, which conform pretty well to the flat map, as North is usually up. In other words, the most direct course on the globe in a roughly N-S direction, will be what you see on the flat map.
OK, let's get this equal-time crap over with: When Christians and Jews pray we don't particularly face up, but we feel that that's where we should picture God, right? Well up is easy, as we've got gravity to help us stay oriented up/down wise. Then you've got your Satanists who would pray downwards, I'd imagine, though I haven't been to a meeting
Back to the Moslems again, this brings up another fascinating point. Since this is prayer, and not airplane or vehicular travel, is there any reason they must pray along a surface instead of THROUGH a material? Do you see what I am getting at here? Why not pray at an angle downward though the Earth directly toward Mecca with azimuth and negative-altitude angles determined very precisely via an app, or website, say myPrayerAlt-Azimuth.muz? I have not found any guidance on this at all in the Koran, thought I haven't picked it up directly but have perused the Cliff Notes. I can see one "issue", as the mid-level managers like to say, meaning big freakin' problem, though. How would we distinguish Moslems from Satanists without a protractor or bubble-level?
How, indeed?
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Moslem call to prayer and the Great Circle route
Posted On: Wednesday - April 5th 2017 8:23AM MST
In Topics: Music Humor Geography
The thing is, these Moslems, like the gentleman with his butt in the air below, are supposed to face toward Mecca when praying. I've also heard though, that they are supposed to face East. I'm trying to reconcile this. Now, East is at least somewhat the correct direction, within say 30 degrees, for Moslems in Europe, who are getting pretty ubiquitous there, I'd say too damn ubiquitous. What about the huge amount of Pakistani ones, or the Bangaladouchan ones? What about guys that live in the eastern suburbs, just a camel's ride away from the center of Mecca? Should they pray directly or the long way, all the way around? We need to talk some geography here and long distance navigation and the Great Circle route.
OK, in long-distance nav. you've got a point across the globe, or across a continent, that you're trying to head for - in this case just point your head at. A lot of people don't understand the Great Circle - shortest distance between 2 points - here on the surface (important point later on "surface") of this 8,000 mile diameter sphere we live on. It does not matter for cross-town travel, and usually within a state not too much unless it's a flight (allowing for a straight line) in a mostly east-west direction in a big state, say Nebraska.
Now take a look at the globe. NO, you can't do this on your phone! It's got a flat screen, not a spherical segment. You need an actual 3D globe, dammit. Let's just think about a Washington, FS - San Francisco, CA road trip. From a look at the globe I estimate Wash, FS at 38 deg N. and San Fran at 37 deg N. A look at a flat map or layout with a ruler would make you think that the shortest drive will take you through central Missouri and central Kansas, when, in fact a string layed on the globe, pulled tight, and touching both cities will show you going through Lincoln, Nebraska and right through Salt Lake City, UT. OK, I realize the interstates don't all go exactly the way we'd like, and also you've only got certain routes through the mountains. Once you get west of the Missouri, or the dry line of the midwest, I prefer to drive on the 2-lane highways anyway - you can still haul ass.
The great circle route becomes even more important for long-distance airline flights. It is fun to lay the string on the globe to see where the shortest distance route lays. You will see why the Midwest to Asia flights will go over the north slope of Alaska - not to be near land that may have an airport (which is always a good thing, though), but it's the shortest way. In fact, to go from Washington, Federal Shithole to Shanghai, China, instead of starting off due west, as one might think (Shanghai is about at the same latitude) one should head at about a true heading of 350 deg, just 10 degrees to the west of due north! What else is cool, is that the GC route will take you only about 8-9 degrees from the North Pole, or about 600 miles away - better hope the fuel heating system was made, designed, and tested with pride in America.
How does this relate to the Moslem guy above with his butt in the air, the erudite reader may well ask? I'll tell you. These people need to get more scientific and join the age of exploration (wait, they may have missed it - started in the 15th century AD, and just ended a few decades back... damn, too bad). There's gotta be an app for this, right, or at least a website where one can get a Great Circle heading toward Mecca that would be the correct direction in which to pray. Wait, there's more! What about magnetic vs. true heading? Should they be praying on a magnetic heading to Mecca or the true heading?
With these differences in geometry between Euclidean, based on a flat surface, and non-Euclidean, and the Magnetic vs. True direction thing, I can see Islam breaking up into a few more sects. The Euclidean vs. Non-Euclidean Moslems, and the Magnetic vs. True Moslems, and combinations thereof. Will we see political infighting and even holy Jihad between these sects, as the iphone apps get improved, and more importantly, as the magnetic variation slowly shifts from place to place? To head this off, they will need a wise holy man, an Ayatollah of Geography, if you will. Otherwise, these people could get violent .... oh wait....
I cannot in good conscience end this post on geography without the following music video, I mean, come on, how many geography songs are there? One?
"Stand", by REM off the 1988 album "Green":
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Tucker Carlson tries to fend off the stupid
Posted On: Tuesday - April 4th 2017 7:54AM MST
In Topics: TV, aka Gov't Media University Pundits
As written here before, this writer is not a viewer of TV. I will, however, see some good clips here and there, whether displayed on blogs within posts or as comments. Fox News may have the official "conservative" take on things, but I have just as much disdain for it as the rest of the TV sector of the Lyin' Press.
That said, this Tucker Carlson character does seem to have his head screwed on straight, and it's a good thing too, as I've seen now 3 clips of his interviewing of some complete freakin' nutcases. It is fun to watch, as I think he has just as much a hard time taking the massively stupid (or possibly just evil feigning stupidity) interviewees seriously as the viewers do. This guy here, George Maher, is a professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. He has sent out some nasty tweet messages that may have enraged thinking people, but nobody has called for shutting the guy up. He comes on here defending the harassment and physical threatening of the erudite Charles Murray. The logic in this guy's head is so twisted that I don't know how he can see straight. Charles Murray is no radical; I've read one of his books and he seems a hard-working researcher (well, it's sociology, so you know) and a fair guy, and decent writer. I didn't agree with him 100% on his book "Coming Apart", but it wasn't the complete twisted-english, nonsensical garbage that comes from Professor Maher.
"I am trying to take you seriously", Tucker says, about midway through this interview. Funny, funny stuff, or it'd be if these people were just harmless - unfortunately sometimes they influence those in power or get in power, and then you have Venezuela, of which Professor Maher is mucho enamored.
The other 2 interviews from Carlson we've blogged about are Mission Creep by the Sierra Club and Are we there yet (Peak Stupidity)?. Complete hard-core stupidity on display - it's that or rent old John Hughes movies for humor.
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[Update 03/06/18:] Video got jerked off again by youtube. This one starts at a diffent place, so may not match this post well anymore. I guess the professor didn't feel comfortable having the public undergo such stupidity.
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[Update 04/21/17:] Video got jerked off by youtube. New one should include the same stuff by this moron Professor Maher.
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Why should we defend Korea again?
Posted On: Tuesday - April 4th 2017 6:42AM MST
In Topics: Trump Pundits US Feral Government The Neocons
Pat Buchanan writes a lot about US foreign relations and military adventures and is very libertarian about it ("not our business - leave these places alone"). He has pretty good knowledge of history too, but will delve into speculation once in a while. His latest column, Why Is Kim Jong Un Our Problem?, seen here on VDare and here on Unz with comments is about why Trump should not be promising US involvement with North Korea should Mr. Kim go completely nuts.
Why then is this our problem to “solve”? And why is North Korea building a rocket that can cross the Pacific and strike Seattle or Los Angeles?Now, I have a problem with the line "Is Kim Jong Un mad? Mr. Buchanan means "mad" in the British sense, as in crazy, not the American sense, as in pissed off. I believe that whole damn country of North Korea is mad really. Whether we have 28,500 soldiers on the DMZ or not (BTW, I was pretty close with my round number of 25,000 in this post I'm good with round numbers) Mr. Kim would make his threats about the US anyway to show his powerful status to his country full of sad, oppressed peons. It makes him the big man to show that he is taking on the (so far) still biggest military power in the world, seriously or not seriously.
Is Kim Jong Un mad?
No. He is targeting us because we have 28,500 troops on his border. If U.S. air, naval, missile and ground forces were not in and around Korea, and if we were not treaty-bound to fight alongside South Korea, there would be no reason for Kim to build rockets to threaten a distant superpower that could reduce his hermit kingdom to ashes.
While immensely beneficial to Seoul, is this U.S. guarantee to fight Korean War II, 64 years after the first wise? Russia, China and Japan retain the freedom to decide whether and how to react, should war break out. Why do we not?
However, the rest of the column is right on. Trump needs to get his priorities straight - he may indeed have the Deep State on his ass causing him to follow in the neocon ways of the last 4 US presidents.
What Buchanan wrote needs to be said but he left out the other half of the picture that Ron Paul could have told us (and has): This country is BEYOND BROKE - get it? As related here on this blog, we will be requesting a cease fire as we wait for parts for our offensive weapons during any prolonged, serious war. Our military, in terms of personnel, has become a sick social experiment as opposed to the "armed forces".
I hope Trump can avoid listening to the neocons, but that hope usually goes away after 6 months of any new president being in office.
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The Electric Light Orchestra - Time
Posted On: Monday - April 3rd 2017 7:10PM MST
In Topics: Music The Future
If you're younger than 45, you may not even know the concept of the "concept album". Back in the days of great rock music, some of the most creative artists would put a story together and make (at least most of) the songs fit the story. I would say the most famous is Pink Floyd's "The Wall", which was 2 records long (for those not familiar with the vinyl "record album" or LP - Long Play, that could be up to 2 1/2 hours of music, but "The Wall" was an hour and 20 minutes only).
The title of the 2nd-to-last post, Is this the way life's meant to be? is a line (and the title) from a song on an obscure, but fantastic album by the band Electric Light Orchestra, or ELO that made great music in the 1970's and early '80's. The creative genius behind this English band was Mr. Jeff Lynne. From what I heard, early on in the band's career, they had more band members than people in the audience.
This album is called "Time" and tells the story of a man accidentally transported into the future, or possibly it was a dream. He wishes on the the song "The Way Life's Meant to Be" that he was "back in 1981" which was the year in which the album was released!
Interestingly, the only hit song from the album "Time" was "Hold on Tight to your Dreams", which was the only song on the album that WASN'T a part of the story!
The only way to listen to this is to hook up to some decent speakers or a headset and play it as you lay down to sleep. You need 45 minutes. Does anyone write music like this now? That was a rhetorical question.
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If I die, just let me go to Texas ...
Posted On: Monday - April 3rd 2017 6:45PM MST
In Topics: Lefty MegaStupidity University
... oh, but not Austin, please!
I had always thought Texas might be the last holdout against the overwhelming frontal attack of stupidity that we are fighting (at least at this website, how 'bout y'all?). I guess one could figure the university towns would be an exception, or at least the universities themselves. VDare's Henry Wolff has an article (well, a bunch of tweets with some good commentary) entitled Marxist Prof. Gavin Mueller Thinks D.C. Whites Are “F***ing Insufferable . The professor at the Univ. of Texas is a nut, I'm guessing, but he didn't get officially reprimanded in any way for words that would be a firing and shunning offense were the racist words reversed.
Hey, but it wasn't all that usual anti-white BS that got me to writing tonight. It was the professor's tweet here:
Hey, I was all over this kids names thing way, way back, as I discussed the missed opportunity of naming my kid after a man of the cloth, you know, like Amos Moses. You're stealing my material, Professor Mueller! If you're gonna steal my material, get it right - the kids aren't named after condominiums, jackass, they're named LAST NAMES as FIRST NAMES. The condo buildings you mention are named after people, and we use LAST NAMES to name things after people. What did this guy get his PhD in, anyway?
Oh, yeah, you're a sick man also, but that's not what got to me. Quit stealing my material!
Oh, and one more thing: Whose parent would you rather be, anyway, Madison or LaTundra? We could just go back to the Biblical names. No, not just Mark and Mathew, but how about Methuselah, Malechai, Jedediah, Zachariah, and Jumpin' Jehoshaphat? Let's put away the Dr. Phil books and get real with these kids.
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Is this the way life's meant to be?
Posted On: Monday - April 3rd 2017 5:57PM MST
In Topics: Curmudgeonry Artificial Stupidity
We've got digital electronics out the ying-yang, or wazoo, if I may, we're all connected (often more than we'd like to be) to each other through communications miracles, and with computer memory, processing power, and sensors as cheap as we really need, anything logic-wise that we can think of doing, we CAN do. (See this previous post regarding automatic windshield wipers for an example.)
Does that make life better in all ways? I've run into things lately that make me feel I may as well be back in the 1920's as far as advancement in quality of life. There were some things that were much better in the 1920's, but we all know that some major things, such as the ability to survive an infectious disease, heart disease and cancer are way better now. The amount of manual labor drudgery is way less now. In the case of this post, the reason I brought up the 1920's was to relate that the advancements in communication actually have brought me back to a state last seen probably about 100 years ago, maybe 80 in some places in this country.
I posted about the difficulty of talking to a human being to get information with respect to my experience conducting a transaction with Chuck E. Cheese a coupla months back. How about a simple call to the kid's doctor's office to make sure about an appointment? This place is very close to home, and that's why we picked it. The waiting room is full of a lot of non-paying customers, I can tell, and the people behind the desk
Now, as a curmudgeon, there'd probably be things I would appreciate more if I'd just give up the old ways and not try to make a phone call, you may say. They may have a chat thing on their web-site (though I didn't even find any web site), and maybe they could text you. I'm not gonna get in a back-and-forth, 1 message/minute exasperating deal with people. Just answer the damn phone, you worthless slobs behind the counter!
These are the times when it is probably me, not just them, and I should get modern and not try to reach people on the telephone. I just don't feel like it. We go to a different pediatrician now, about 2 miles farther away, where they answer the phone after you mash 1 for sick or 2 for well, visits. It's a real pleasure.
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Ann Coulter nails it again on free markets re: healthcare
Posted On: Saturday - April 1st 2017 8:12PM MST
In Topics: Pundits Liberty/Libertarianism
This is a 2nd column about the wonders of a free market, in particular with respect to healthcare by the now-excellent writer Ann Coulter: A Health Care Plan So Simple, Even A Republican Can Understand!.
This is the previous one, as published at VDare and the PeakStupidity take on it.
Read this column and the previous one all the way through. You'll enjoy them even if you don't agree.
Miss Coulter writes specifically in this column about the laws preventing just anyone for starting an insurance company with his own plans.
It’s always impossible to repeal laws that require Ann to pay for greedy people, because the greedy run out on the streets wailing that the Republicans are Republicans then.Later in the article, Ann compares health insurance, most of which is not really insurance by definition but some kind of plan to spread out arbitrary costs to many parties, to auto insurance, a good contrast that has been made before.
Obamacare is uniquely awful because the free stuff isn’t paid for through income taxes: It’s paid for through MY health insurance premiums. This is unfortunate because I wanted to buy health insurance.
Perhaps you’re not aware—SINCE YOU EXEMPTED YOURSELVES FROM OBAMACARE, CONGRESS—but buying or selling health insurance is illegal in America.
Right now, there’s no free market because insurance is insanely regulated not only by Obamacare, but also by the most corrupt organizations in America: state insurance commissions. (I’m talking to you, New York!)
Federal and state laws make it illegal to sell health insurance that doesn’t cover a laughable array of supposedly vital services based on bureaucrats’ medical opinions of which providers have the best lobbyists.
As a result, it’s illegal to sell health insurance that covers any of the medical problems I’d like to insure against. Why can’t the GOP keep Obamacare for the greedy—but make it legal for Ann to buy health insurance?
I haven't seen a column by Ann Coulter that I haven't agreed with 99% in 5 years or more. If I weren't married and she wasn't so tall, who knows what would have happened.
Again, Ann Coulter nails it, and I'd like to na.. [Post terminated - THIS!POST!IS!OVER! - Editor]
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Self defense like this happens every day
Posted On: Saturday - April 1st 2017 6:21PM MST
In Topics: Media Stupidity Americans Liberty/Libertarianism
This story - Masked Home Invaders Not The “Victims” Of Citizen Armed With AR-15 is only on VDare (they are not a gun site) because of their usual habit of commenting on the fact that the race of non-white perpetrators of crimes is not usually reported by the lyin' press. Eugene Gant, in his blog post, just commented that the thugs that busted into the house were of mixed race this time, but were called the "victims".
The guys who broke into the house armed with knives and brass knuckles got shot down by the son of the homeowner with an AR-15 and the 3 died.
The only problem I've got with what happened is how you shoot a rifle at close quarters like this. It could be all the guy had handy. I don't have one that handy, but it'd just seem like a pistol would be easier to maneuver, and people recommend shotguns, of course, but it might have had to be a semi-auto one for three armed guys. I am far from an expert, as opposed to "Weaponsman" mentioned below.
I am not commenting on this because it's some big story or something - things like this happen daily. The NRA publishes many anecdotes about self-defense via guns because national LP doesn't like the implication that guns could be good for you. Local press will report more accurately, as a) there is great interest because it hits close to home, b) they like to (try to) scare readers, and c) they can't get away with not printing it, as quite a few locals will know about it. What's not reported and have been estimated by some that study armed self-defense to be in the millions is incidents that don't involve any shooting, just brandishing to warn and ward-off potential assailants. If you ended up pointing a gun or even just showing it, to keep from being a victim of violence, would you bother calling the cops? I know I wouldn't, and haven't, as the cops will cause you more trouble most likely than help you in any way.
I wanted to get that out of the way, but here are 2 posts (first post and follow-up) about this incident by a guy with the handle "hognose" who writes the excellent website WeaponsMan. Here's a quick funny part about the getaway girl driver:
Rodriguez fled the scene but later showed up at the police station to demand the cops arrest the murderer of her friends.Haha, not the peak of stupidity but on up there.
Oh, what else this post has got to do with Peak Stupidity is only in a follow-up I read, somewhere that I can't find, mentioned the "stand your ground" laws and the the OK home could be tested here - I hate to link to the mainstream Lyin' Press, but since the original link is lost to me, there is an Associated Press article here entitled 'Stand Your Ground'? Oklahoma man kills 3 home burglars; woman who aided robbers arrested. Now this is a perfect example of the LP just pulling phrases that fit the narrative they want to tell out of their asses.
"Stand your Ground" laws extend the "Castle Doctrine", which all about self-defense within the home ("a man's home is his castle") to protect people who protect themselves via self-defense out of the home legally. These laws are about what one can and cannot do to defend himself from violent actions versus running away (as the only legal way out of the jam) when out of the home. This case was self-defense WITHIN a house, and therefore "Stand your Ground" laws have not a damn thing to do with it. I believe that these people either know nothing about the subject they write about (I have seen this in person multiple times) or they want to just throw this stuff out there to get the phrases in the minds of the left-wing useful idiot followers ("Stand-your-ground is bad, mmmkaay")
(I am glad to have found the website "WeaponsMan". Thanks to VDare's James Fulford for that.)
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How much gold is a "big find"?
Posted On: Wednesday - March 29th 2017 5:26PM MST
In Topics: Global Financial Stupidity China Economics
ZeroHedge reports "Chinese Gold Miner Claims Discovery Of Largest Ever Gold Mine". This find in China's Shandong province in eastern China could be up to 550 tons. How much is this really, and what does a find like this mean? Keep in mind that it is not 550 tons of extra "free gold" for the taking - it takes energy to get the small fraction of gold out of the ore.
According to a Tuesday statement that cited the company on sdchina.com, the Xiling mine in Shandong province told local authorities it had found 382.58 tons of gold reserves and that the volume could reach more than 550 tons once exploration is completed in two years. According to local media reports, the Xiling gold seam in eastern China is more than 2,000 meters long and 67 meters wide; operating at full capacity, the mine would have a life of 40 years, according to the statement.Gold is measured for value in "Troy Ounces" which are slightly larger than ordinary English-system weight ounces (14.6 to a lb., vs, 16 to a lb.). A metric ton (not to be confused with a "metric shit-ton") is about 10% or so higher than an English ton (1,000 kg vs. 2,000 lb), so let's just assume English units, as I believe metric tons are written as "tonnes", which I don't see written in the article. There are just above 29,000 troy oz in a ton, so this find is up to 16 million oz, which is about 20 billion bucks at today's $1,250/oz.
That's a lot of money for an individual, but not compared to the spending of the US, and even the Chinese gov't spending (China's gov't, being even more Communist than ours, if that's possible, has budgets close to the same order of magnitude, let's say about 1/2 based on a quick search - 2 Trillion in US dollars). That makes the gold find only 1/100 of the yearly budget, or 3 - 4 days' spending. The idea of gold reserves is to back-up, so to speak, a country's currency with enough gold so that enough people could be made whole were the currency to dive that the currency could be supported. The old number in the US was 10%, but lets use even 5%. That means that this new gold could back-up the money spent in a couple of months of ChiCom gov't spending.
Usually the reserves are thought of as backing the country's money supply - the actual physical and the digital currency supposedly "owned" by all people and corporations. Forgive me if this is not the exact definition, but there are also multiple stages of inclusion in "the money supply". I just compared it to the yearly budget, at 5% backing, just to give an idea of how little the gold is officially worth vs. the huge amount of official money being spent. It is the same situation in this country, but note:
Chinese gold companies have been stepping up their search for domestic deposits and eyeing acquisitions as the nation seeks to increase reserves by 3,000 tons to as much as 14,000 tons by 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said last month. That amount of holdings would propel China into first place globally for official gold reserves.Instead of the continual bad-mouthing of gold by our moneymen and moneybroads in our moneymaking palace called the "Federal Reserve", the Chinese gov't at least has some knowledge of what is real money, even though they make efforts to make it hard for individuals to get this real money. They want to bring reserves up to 14,000 tons, it says above, while our 8,000 tons that are thought to be in Ft. Knox, Kentucky, have not been seen by auditors since the 1950's or so. I guess it's still there.
I don't think believers in precious metals as the only real money have much to worry about with respect to finds like this one in China. It'd be time to worry if they are able to drag down one of these bad boys and get to the (hopefully not fool's) gold embedded therein:
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Paul Craig Roberts (pundit) has an EOI
Posted On: Wednesday - March 29th 2017 7:51AM MST
In Topics: Global Climate Stupidity Pundits
First off, this post is about what one pundit has to say about a subject, what I think about it, and how other pundits think and write about this, so basically 99% of Americans have never heard of the one guy (Paul Craig Roberts), and maybe 90% have not heard of ANY OF THEM. I will excuse you if you think this is a waste of effort. (How many Americans have heard of Peak Stupidity? The process? Maybe 25%. The website? Well, I'm gonna need a bigger set of zeros after the decimal point than I can do before the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome ;-}
OK, this guy, Mr. Roberts is some type of ex-government guy who is strongly against about everything the out-of-control Feral Government is up to, and therefore PeakStupidity usually strongly agrees with this gentleman. He seems to be a libertarian on the same page as the Lew Rockwells and such. I have read the man's columns before and will say now, though I agree with him, he is not a particularly great writer that keeps one's interest, and how depressing is it to keep reading about all the violations of the US Constitution and nefarious foreign involvements "our" government is up to? Sure, I can read about a new thing, but what will I learn, really, that I wouldn't already figure, unless it was somehow involved in my business or very local to me. Therefore, I don't make a point to read Paul Craig Roberts regularly, such as on the Unz site where I mentioned he appears (in the PeakStupidty review of the site.
Anyway, the guy knows US government politics. However, a couple of days back he came out with this article entitled Global Warming Wrapup. It's complete bunk, I will tell you first! Why does a pundit who normally writes about a field he knows think he somehow understands physics and especially mathematical modelling? PeakStupidity has been all over this, and the impetus for my writing of this post this morning is that someone at the unz site deleted my comment pointing out our expertise here about the whole Global Climate DisruptionTM scam. Yeah, "scam" is about the right word or best I could come up with.
Sometimes someone you think is smart goes off on some topic in a way that makes you think he's stupid. I know people will tell me we can't agree on everything, but I just don't get how this can happen. If it's a friend we usually do end up agreeing on much of the topic after discussion, but this guy is spouting off a column on it, and I call this and EOI, an "Episode Of Idiocy".
Here's the difference, though, between this Roberts guy and say, John Derbyshire (of VDare, and mentioned here a lot). He has stated he agrees the Earth is warming up (I don't particularly - depends greatly on the time-frame) - he's a math guy, not an engineer, keep in mind - but he doesn't agree with the theory that this change is man-caused and with the politics involved. The difference from Robert's viewpoint is that since John Derbyshire's main interest is in seeing us stop the massive influx of foreigners to the country, he doesn't see a few degrees difference in the climate as high on the totem pole of problems we've got. If you change the entire population of the nation to a point you and your offspring will not be comfortable in, what's the big deal about it getting warmer - who cares, you're gonna be thinking about leaving anyway.
Pat Buchanan writes about history with a very different viewpoint sometimes. I don't know as much as the guy about history, so even though I might not have agreed with him before, I figure I've got something to learn from the guy's writings. I've not read him spout off on something that is not his purview.
Well, per the 1st paragraph, most of this is probably of no direct concern to 99% of Americans, but I hate to see these Episodes of Idiocy. We'll try to keep them to a minimum on this blog.
You're welcome!
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"Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you've got til it's gone...
Posted On: Monday - March 27th 2017 7:42PM MST
In Topics: Music Treehuggers
... they paved paradise, put up a parking lot"
This Joni Mitchell song came to mind after the previous post.
Yeah, they can't pave over the Olympic Mountains, but once our money becomes worthless, and our country gets bought up piece by piece, that wonderful forest may be mowed down like a patch of dandelions under a riding mower, just for whatever price the owner can get for the lumber. No, the treehuggers won't be able to get a word in.
This song is called "Big Yellow Taxi" and I really like this live version:
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A tale of 2 Countries (for picking blackberries)
Posted On: Monday - March 27th 2017 6:54PM MST
In Topics: Treehuggers China Environmental Stupidity
This is something I'd wanted to write about since a few summers ago, when I spent some time in China, and some time in western Washington State. It is a story of how things are when you have just too many damn people.
We were visiting some family in-laws in a place in central China that I might call the "West Virginia of China". This is not a slight to W. Virginia or W. Virginians either - it is just remote and hilly. This location was out of the way enough to where the Japanese didn't bother to invade the province, and Chairman Mao did not visit, but he did starve many of them - they didn't get to miss out on that deal unfortunately.
Anyway, though he could speak zero English, and my mastery of Chinese is close to nil, this particular gentleman took me for a hike out of the "small town" (in China, that means less than 1/2 million people) up into the hills and about 3-5 miles away. It was nice to hike, but this "wilderness" was not pristine, and I could tell there was no place we saw where nobody had been recently. Now, once in a while this guy would stop, pick some small nowhere-near-ripe red blackberries and give me half and we'd eat 'em. They were pretty sour, but you know, "when in Rome" and all that, and I didn't want to insult the guy. The berries were edible, but just sour, and I've got a tough stomach. No problem, but why pick these?
I had the answer really before we ate the second bunch of blackberries. Even in this supposed wilderness, about as far as you could get from anyone in this remote province, there are too many people about that would come by to get the blackberries that no one would wait until they were ripened. So, either pick the sour small red ones, or don't get any at all. I confirmed this when we got back to the house where people spoke some English.
It's sad when compared to our still somewhat wide-open country. In Seattle, Washington, right within the city limits, in the park, during the right months, one could pick thousands of perfectly ripe juicy blackberries to the point of needing gallon buckets, if you don't mind getting pricked a bit. But then, though Seattle may have the land area of a major Chinese city, it has under 700,000 people in the city limits, that of a medium village in China.
Do you know that China had more people, over 400 million, in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, back before 1900 AD, than we have now? It's been overpopulated for a long time, and keep in mind that, though the land area on a map looks close to that of the continental US, the western 40% of that is just Tibet and Xinjiang , both just mostly barely-inhabited mountains and high desert. Then the other 60% is mostly mountainous. I'd estimate the population density of China as 15 X what we have in America, not 5 X, as one might think from a glance at the globe.
Can we learn a lesson here? Do Americans want to live like that, with no way to really get out away from anyone and see the land in it's pristine state? See, the Chinese have a long history of living close together - even out in the country, so to speak, they live in villages of a few hundred and farm their small plots around these villages. Here, we all can realistically dream of living on 10 acres or more, and we like to be where we can't even see any neighbors! The treehuggers don't want to talk about immigration though, remember; it's not nice, and they all want to be nice, even it means their children will inherit a crowded hellhole. People might call you names and shit, can't have that, right?
The generous unripe-blackberry-picking gentleman that I went hiking with only knows what's there in China. It won't happen, I guess, but I had an urge to get that guy a plane ticket and take him out into the Olympic mountains in western Washington. It wouldn't be to show off really, it's just that he'd be the type to be deeply impressed by the beauty there.
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Goodnight music from the Dead
Posted On: Saturday - March 25th 2017 7:13PM MST
In Topics: Music The Dead
Brokedown Palace from the studio album "American Beauty".
The other goodnight song by The Dead is "Ripple", to be posted another night.
Here are Robert Hunter's lyrics:
Fare you well, my honey, fare you well my only true one.
All the birds that were singing are flown, except for you alone.
Going to leave this brokedown palace.
On my hand and knees, I will roll, roll, roll.
Make myself a bed by the waterside,
In my time, in my time, I will roll, roll roll.
In a bed, in a bed, by the waterside I will lay my head.
Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul.
River going to take me, sing sweet and sleepy.
Sing me sweet and sleepy all the way back home.
It's a far gone lullaby, sung many years ago.
Mama, mama many worlds I've known since I first left home.
Goin' home, goin' home, by the riverside I will rest my bones.
Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul.
Going to plant a weeping willow.
On the bank's green edge it will grow, grow, grow.
Sing a lullaby down beside the water,
Lovers come and go, the river roll, roll, roll.
Fare you well, fare you well, I love you more than words can tell,
Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul.
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The ruination of Sweden - "Finally facing our Waterloo!"
Posted On: Saturday - March 25th 2017 6:20PM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity
/*RANT on
This post is purely a rant, so if you agree with PeakStupidity in general you'll probably enjoy reading this one. If not, skip it and go back to your 2nd-favorite website.
How can a whole population of a nation be so stupid as to let the nation go to ruin over a period of just a few decades? Yeah we have major problems ourselves, but, for population self-destruction, Sweden is in a class by itself.
I get it that the Vikings are long in the past, Sweden has been socialist for well-nigh 70 years, and it has been neutral in the wars of Europe for centuries. Sure, the people can get soft, but wouldn't you snap out of it when you see whole neighborhoods turning into violent other countries?
This ZeroHedge article, describes the building of a new police station in a part of metropolitan Stockholm called Ringeby or more colloquially "Little Mogadishu". It is full of Somalians and others that have no business living in Sweden - this results in the type of neighborhood that requires this hardened building:
Looks from the picture to be a great place for a stroll - NOT. (Where did the white people come from - artistic license?)
It is described by zerohedge (or the zerohedge sources) thusly:
The new police station, which is being built under heavy security and is scheduled to open in 2019, will cost over $40 million construction costs in addition to an annual rental cost of $1.6 million. The security cost for the actual construction is unknown. It is planned that 250 personnel will work there in the community of around 15,000 people. This is a ratio of one cop to 60 residents (for comparison Chicago has one cop to 270 residents).
The police station will feature bullet proof windows, walls reinforced with sheet metal, and fencing around it, possibly with electrified barbed wire. So it will look more like a military installation than anything. Also it will be designated as "specially protected," which means a year in prison for anyone even throwing a stone at it. But there are problems with the police station, as none of the largely White police working there will actually live in the community and will have to commute it. This being Sweden, a disproportionate number will also be women. This raises several problems that would not be issues elsewhere. Police officers are worried about vandalism to their private cars so refuse to drive in, while using public transport is considered too dangerous, especially for female officers.
Do most of the Swedes really not know that their country will be changed into about the farthest thing possible from 1970's Sweden? Are they really that stupid? Socialism can indeed make a population stupid, but THAT STUPID to invite in a whole population of Somalians? Maybe.
Do they not care? I guess if you are old and have no children, having had a good time in life, maybe you figure you'll just "enjoy the decline" as is the theme of one website (this is not some mere slow decline - this is violent social destruction). Well, some of the Swedes are young enough or have a few children for which they should care about what's coming.
Is it cowardice? Some Western European countries (England included) have laws against "hate speech", i.e. talk that is too truthful for people's own good. However, not everyone must be, or can be, a Geert Wilders (he needs 24-hr. bodyguards, so that's not for everyone). All it takes is a little resistance and solidarity with fellow truth-telling Swedes. They can't put a whole city in jail for "hate speech". I believe the cowardice is fear of friends/family/neighbors looking down on one, and the fear of being called names. Yes, that's pathetic. This alone is probably the reason the situation has gotten so far out of hand. Fear of being called names is what's caused this ruination! Did these people never hear the simple "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." thing during kindergarten? They couldn't have all been out sick that day.
The thing is, the country may not be doomed, but it will take much more guts and will to make an effort to get these people out of Sweden than it would have to keep them from coming. I don't think they have it in them. What will the young ones in Sweden think of their parents and grandparents 25 years from now when they're living in a Moslem hellhole that used to be a hell of a nice place?
RANT off */
"Well, we'll always have ABBA."
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Border control maintenance vs. defending some Koreans from other Koreans
Posted On: Thursday - March 23rd 2017 6:56AM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity Economics
This is an addendum, if you will, to the previous post arguing how piddling the expense and effort to build a good southern border barrier for the US is compared to the US Feral Gov't yearly budget and the building of the Interstate Highway System, respectively.
Firstly, just to make clear where the simple round numbers came from, let me go through this some more. The US Government's spending habits, amount of borrowing and basically the degree of broke we are under have been discussed fairly thoroughly already on this blog, with plenty of more to come. Just a round number for the yearly spending amount is 4 trillion dollars, $4,000,000,000,000. The 1 1/2 hour per year of this spending that could pay for "The Wall" was obtained by simply dividing the CONSERVATIVE estimate of (2,000 miles x $1,000,000/mile) $2,000,000,000 - 2 billion dollars by the 4 trillion, giving .0005 - "The Wall" should be in the range of 0.05% of the annual budget. My number of 1.5 "hours of spending" was simply taking 365 hours x 8 hours/day = ~ 3,000 hrs. and multiplying by .0005 (.05%) to get 1.5 hours. OK, I could have used a 24 hours/day spending rate, as these guys don't normally stop spending money during lunch, dinner sleep, sex with congressional page-boys, etc., so then I'd get a higher number, 4.5 hours, but that'd just be out of a longer spending day, so it's all the same. The general point is that it is miniscule, and, in engineering terms, negligible.
OK, I have mentioned back under the General Financial Stupidity Topic Key, that most of the budget is transfer payment, in gov-speak, meaning really that this money has actually all been divied-out ahead of time for SS checks, medicare, VA benefits, welfare grants of all sort (that should not be US gov't's business). Deservedly or not-deservedly, this money is already spent. The rest is military, running the Fed-gov, interest on the 20 Trillion dollar debt (at a low, low rate!) and then what they call "discretionary" spending, like your extra money left after the mortgage, tuition, all the utility bills, and food. Now, much of the military budget could be considered discretionary, as it's not a "defense budget", but an "offense budget" the way I see it. If you were to state that only 20% of the budget was discretionary, OK, it takes 1 day out of 365 days of Fed-Gov controllable spending to build the wall - but only for that one year's budget, right? After that it's just maintenance needed. The question on whether some or a lot of the military budget is discretionary is how this post has a damn thing to do with Korea - glad you asked!
Let's say even with 1 24-hr, 2-manned, post every single mile of the border for 2,000 miles, a very conservative estimate, and my 1/2 million bucks a piece yearly for each (2 shifts x 2 guys @ $100,000 including overhead + $100,000 for vehicles/equipment), that's 1 billion bucks to run the show. OK, I gave that number last post - let's just talk personnel. 2 guys x 2 shifts x 2,000 posts x 1.25(to allow for vacation, sickness, affirmative-action-hard-to-fire-guys-that-don't-show-up) we get another nice round number (which I really like, you can see!) of 10,000 guys. Now, look, do you know we have had 25,000 or so soldiers based on the northern border of South Korea for 64 freakin' years? No, not the same guys, they do rotate every coupla' years ;-}
We have 25,000 soldiers defending the huge economy of S. Korea, whom we have a big trade deficit with (i.e. losing dollars daily) against one of the top psychopathic-run governments ever seen by man, but still full of the same people - Koreans! Who cares? I mean, why should Americans, who are deep in a financial hole, and getting creamed in the auto market by S. Korea, have 25,000 soldiers there defending them? They can handle it just fine themselves. Just 1/2 of these men could take care of defending the US Southern border with personnel to spare. Also, just to get this in, it must cost 3 times more to keep a soldier supported half-way around the world in S. Korea vs. in W. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or California.
The stupid, it burns!
Addendum to the addendum: Just because Korea is mentioned, and many people probably don't even know why American soldiers were over there in the 1st place (it's been called "the forgotten war"), let me bring up a few things. Almost as many American men died in the Korean War - 1950-1953 as in Vietnam, on the order of 50,000. The first year of the war involved all of the strategic action, i.e. changes in territory, while the last 2 were just back-and-forth battles of unnamed hills, still with lots of casualties. You could watch M.A.S.H to get a little bit of history and a quite a bit of Alan Alda leftwing claptrap (the movie is MUCH better), but a good book I've read about it is "This Kind of War" by T. R. Fehrenbach.
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Border control vs. the interstate highway system
Posted On: Wednesday - March 22nd 2017 8:06PM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity Economics
VDare's contributor "Federale" is a guy who has had extensive experience in the world of immigration control - he was some type of law enforcement officer in the old Immigration and Naturalization Service. He comes across as a lawyer sometimes, as he knows much about the whole system of supposed border protection and the abuse thereof (sounds much smarter than the average cop, in other words). In his blogpost on VDare, entitled NRO’s Heather Wilhelm Goes All Kevin Williamson On The Border Wall On Behalf Of Illegal Aliens, Federale brings up another pundit/writer who, either ignorantly or purposefully deceitfully, makes a wall or serious border barrier into some kind of impossible pie-in-the-sky effort.
We are talking about 2,000 miles of a serious barrier that does not have to be completely impenetrable (remember, "build a 20 ft. wall, they'll bring a 21 ft. ladder" - yeah, Lowes sells those ladders, but only on the north side, so ?). All you need is some manned posts every few miles so the border control can meet up with any crossers and arrest them to discourage all the others. It's not like video cameras cost a pretty penny as if this were the 1970's. You can also take off of this 2,000 miles any lengths of border that are pretty impenetrable due to terrain, as written about in Federale's article re Big Bend National Park. Just fly a few drones up and down the line.
No, we've not been sending our best civil engineers:
People who bring up these objections to "The Wall" in terms of feasibility piss me off almost as much as the ones who just admit they want open borders to help replace the American people. The former people are either at the leading edge of innumerate stupidity or they are liars. Either of these 2 options entail the assumption on the proponents' part that the average American listening to them is innumerate, knows not much American history, and has a short memory. Is there no one left who remembers or has heard about the building of the 50,000 mile Interstate Highway System?
Yes, this was back when we were a can-do nation, but on the other hand, surveying methods and construction methods have only improved since 1956 when the building of the interstates started. It did take a while, but a mile of 4-lane, limited-access highway is one hell of a bigger deal to build than a mile of double concertina-wire-topped fencing with cameras and a no-man's land in between and a guard post every 5 or even 1 mile. The highway right-of way has first to be cleared, then graded and contoured for good drainage. Then base material must be put down, the 75-ft. wide or so asphalt laid down, and markings, signage, and extras like guardrails made/installed. Oh, don't forget clover-leaf or diamond exits, 4-lanes of bridge for every creek and crossing road (without access).
The cost of the interstate system that Wikipedia contributors estimate is $10,000,000 per mile, but keep in mind that that covers all of the city loops and spurs that require expensive land purchases compared to a straight shot across the plains of eastern Colorado. It's probably much less than 10 million bucks per mile, maybe 1/2 that for the lengthy real cross-country road.
How much would a good barrier cost per mile? 1 million bucks? I doubt really that much if it weren't for the US government bidding it, as they have no reason to save money.
Say 1 million and the overestimate of the whole < 2,000 miles. That's 2 billion bucks which is, averaged out, about 1 1/2 HOURS of Feral Gov't spending (assuming they can only spend during business hours 8/day)!
Federale's post includes his take on real estate costs for this border barrier, as opposed to say, the newest section of freeway through Los Angeles:
The private property on the Texas side of the Rio Grand is for the most part worthless. Most is covered in dense cottonwood trees, other scrub trees, and bushes. Houses built there are mostly abandoned and used now for drug and illegal alien drops. I doubt that Wilhelm has ever been to Rio Grand border in the areas such as Laredo, El Paso, McAllen, and other small towns. But she does not have to. She can just view the many seasons of Border Wars broadcast on the National Geographic Channel. There she can see that the property on the border is essentially worthless. Consequently, property values are low.Good points here - I would bet a lot of ranchers would ante up some money, not even ask for any, to stop the serious threats to life and property from this invasion.
All the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lawyers have to do is review property tax records that will show the the minor cost of just compensation required by the Constitution. Most property owners will be happy to sell to the Federal government as illegal alien and drug smuggling have made the Rio Grand area unlivable and property valueless.
Oh yeah, what about the manpower? The "wall" will require some maintenance. Sure, but much less than a highway does. We all know, frustratingly, that the interstates must be repaved regularly, right-of-way must be mowed, trash out of illegal Mexicans' car windows must be gathered too. Say you even need a guard post every 1 mile, which is really too conservative with the use of cameras and drones. You've got a couple of guys with a vehicle in each? Say $500,000 each for 24-hour manpower with overhead and including equipment - that's 1 billion bucks per year, which is only 45 MINUTES out of a year of Feral Government's spending! It's chump change, and if it bothers you, we can offset it by cutting out NPR and some public TV channels that no-one ever watches. (OK, OK, NPR can be very soothing, so long as you don't listen to the actual words. I may have a crush on that Nina Totenburg, but the Nina Totenburg of 1991, probably not the Nina of 2017, as lefties don't age well.)
Don't try to BS a numbers guy. You just make yourself out to be deceitful or stupid, or both. Be honest and say you hate Americans and want to ruin their country and replace them. Nobody likes a liar, though we're not fond of traitors either.
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The heart of Fleetwood Mac
Posted On: Tuesday - March 21st 2017 4:27PM MST
In Topics: Music
Almost all of the music up on PeakStupidity is stuff that wasn't the most popular back in it's day. There is so much good music from the era we feature that isn't widely known, so I'd rather put those youtube videos up.
This one is an exception. We featured a Fleetwood Mac album cut called Blue Letter back in January. However, to further prove my point (end of the post) about the value of a good bass player, this song, "Say you Love Me" was very popular in 1975, peaking at #11 on the good old Billboard chart.
Though Fleetwood Mac consisted of 5 members, repeated here,
Fleetwood Mac:
Lindsay Buckingham - vocals and guitar
John McVie - bass guitar
Mic Fleetwood - drums
Christy McVie - vocals, piano
Stevie Nicks - vocals
the McVie's with Mr. Buckingham's guitar ARE the band on a lot of their best songs.
I maintain Christine McVie had a better voice than the more famous (hotter, perhaps, is the reason) Stevie Nicks. On this song, Christy McVie sings this one and plays piano, while her husband John McVie has great bass lines (I like the sliding parts). Lindsay Buckingham adds a great guitar sound too.
How good would this song be without John McVie's bass? I say, not nearly as good. This one rocks.
More regular posting will continue tomorrow. We're not out of ideas but haven't been in a position to put up pics and there hasn't been enough time to compose a post.
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Review of the meaning of Peak Stupidity
Posted On: Saturday - March 18th 2017 5:35PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Lefty MegaStupidity Music Pundits
It's probably better for one's sanity or at least blood pressure to ignore the max-stupid goings on at the universities, in the media, stuff out of the Pope's mouth, etc. for periods of time. Though I maintain that, unfortunately, because our governments are so powerful, we really can't avoid the effects of any of the on-going stupidity forever, one can take a break from hearing about it, knowing that the peak is coming - no, I can't give you a month or date.
One of the pundits this writer reads is Mr. John Derbyshire, who writes for VDare and other websites. I have mentioned before that he puts a podcast online weekly. You can listen to it, if that's your thing, right here on VDare or read it (to me it's 3-4 times faster, and I just like to read more than view or listen when on-line) here on Mr. Derbyshire's own site. We may run into one of the myriad daily PC/Cult-Marx/SJW annoyances anytime and about anywhere (not so much at Monster Truck rallies, though). Mr. Derbyshire's segment here is about a Night at the Opera. I don't think he actually went, based on the podcast transcription, but here:
For the first hundred years or so of its existence, the opera Madame Butterfly was taken at face value as a musical drama on a tragic human story. Then the CultMarx commissars arrived to strap it into their ideological straitjacket.
So now we have this, from the Seattle Opera website. It's 125 words, but I'll quote them all to you, to give you the full flavor of finger-wagging prune-faced sanctimony. Quote:
*********************************************
"Inspired by true events, Madame Butterfly is an often painful reminder of racial and cultural injustice found throughout America's history. In July 2017, Seattle Opera is committed to participating in an open dialogue with the community on issues surrounding this work and will host a discussion open to all. Additionally, prior to performances, the lobby areas of McCaw Hall will be used for a large-scale exhibit, allowing audiences to consider the lasting impacts of American imperialism on people of Japanese and Asian ancestry which continued well into the 20th century. A month after Madame Butterfly closes, we will present An American Dream, a story depicting the incarceration of a Japanese American family in the '40s, to provide an essential second perspective for Madame Butterfly audiences."
*********************************************
End quote.
"American imperialism"? Might we hear a word about Japanese Imperialism? And then perhaps another word about Chinese imperialism? The Japanese and the Chinese actually proclaimed themselves to be empires, for Heaven's sake! Eighty-five years ago, in fact, the Japanese made a strenuous attempt to incorporate big swathes of China into the Japanese Empire, using very brutal methods.
Why isn't that worth a mention? Why? Because it can't be incorporated into a narrative about "the depravity of whiteness," that's why.
As an opera lover, I can't adequately express the hatred and disgust I feel at this invasion of high culture by thin-lipped, moon-booted ideologues. I'd mind less if they would keep themselves and their stupid, empty dogmas penned up in CultMarx seminaries like Middlebury College, where they could virtue-signal to each other all day long, while leaving the rest of us alone with our pleasures.
No: They have to come lumbering into the sanctuary, knocking over the statues, drawing mustaches on the artwork, peeing on the rugs. It makes me mad. The hell with these swine! Damn them all to hell!
Again, this is one instance of stupidity of the millions per day, so I picked this out of many articles read. Why, indeed, do they have to mess with the opera of all things?
To get to the point per our post title and in review of this entire website's theme, it's not that this ridiculous stuff is going to quit out of some inherent quality. During the hippy* era 55-45 years back, things got pretty stupid too, and though things calmed down by the '80's as far a new stupid ideas, much of that era's stupidity stuck with us. Back in those days, though, the country was still an economic powerhouse and could support all kinds of behavior. It's not the same today. This country's current economic situation has us digging deeper into a hole that we will not get out of without major changes to society. The drastic changes that must happen when the crash comes are going to transform the population into a more serious bunch of people - there will be no tolerance for any of the stupidity we see now. That's the peak, and I don't think anyone knowing enough about it should feel anticipation for the financial pain, but an end of the stupidity will be welcomed by all.
BTW, as I said, you're not going to hear much of the "finger-wagging prune-faced sanctimony", as Mr. Derbyshire described the Seattle Opera, at the Monster Truck rally. However, I've got to get some culture into my family - it really is time for us to get dressed up and get out to the ballet and the opera. How can you be a polite, sophisticated member of society if you don't watch some fags dance around on their toes (and some girls with very tight rear-ends) and sit through a fat lady screaming out stuff in Italian? It's worth it to become sophisticated. Seriously, I should make some plans. In the meantime, here's some head-bobbing rock opera we could get into, though it'd be even cooler listening to it in the car, once we get our old AMC Pacer out of the shop.
That guitarist, Bryan May, got his PhD in Astronomy about the same time the band got really famous. It was a tough call between being a scientist and playing with Freddy Mercury, but he came out pretty good with his decision.
* Really, not all the hippy stuff could come under the umbrella of stupidity - they had quite a few good ideas, and many of them were quite pro-American and pro-Americans compared to the jackasses we see and hear from today.
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