I thought we might want a little space that’s completely (well mostly) free of our second-time-farce production of Triumph of the Will, so here’s some random thoughts for a Wednesday night.
I had a productive day on my book, as it happens, so in my attempt to [ETA: keep] my head in late 17th century London, here are a couple of tidbits.
First, I’d say this was a pretty good day’s work:
“Th., Jan. 22nd [1680]–Society met, read Lewenhook. Archimedes refuted. Diurnall motion of Earth established.”
That’s from Robert Hooke‘s diary. All I’ve can say is that I’ve gotten less done in some years.
Next, with the possible exception of Betty (and Charles Pierce), I’m not sure any of us will come close to the magnificence of 18th century invective. Here’s publican and satirist Ned Ward on those he met on an amble through the Royal Exchange in 1698 or 1699:
We then proceeded and went on to the Change, turn’d to the Right, and Jostled in amongst a parcel of Swarthy Buggerantoes, Preternatural Fornicators, as my Friend call’d them, who would Ogle a Handsome Young Man with as much Lust, as a True-bred English Whoremaster would gaze upon a Beautiful Virgin. Advertisements hung as thick round the Pillars of each Walk, as Bells about the Legs of a Morris-Dancer, and an Incessant Buz, like the Murmurs of the distant Ocean, as a Diapason to our Talk, like a Drone to a Bagpipe. The Wainscote was adorn’d with Quacks Bills, instead of Pictures; never an Emperick in the Town, but had his Name in a Lacquer’d Frame, containing a fair Invitation for a Fool and his Money to be soon parted; thus he that wants a dry Rogue for himself, or a Wet-Nurse for a Child, may be furnish’d here at a Minutes warning. After we had squeez’d our selves thro’ a Crowd of Bumfirking-Italians, we fell into a throng of strait-lac’d Monsters in Fur, and Thrum-Caps, with huge Logger-Heads, Effeminate Wastes, and Buttocks like a Flanders-Mare, with Slovenly Mein, Swinish Looks, whose upper Lips were gracefully adorn’d with T—d-colour’d Whiskers, these, with their Gloves under their Arms, and their Hands in their Pockets, were Grunting to each other, like Hogs at their Pease; these, my Friend told me, were the Water-Rats of Europe, who Love no Body but themselves, & Fatten upon the Spoils, & Build their own Welfare upon the Ruin of their Neighbours.
I guess the resonance there is with the fine tolerance for strangers and immigrants seen here. Certainly, like supporters of a presidential candidate of the elephantine persuasion Ward’s got no time for one group in particular:
There likewise was the Lords Vagabonds the Jews, who were so accurs’d for their Infidelity, that they are generally the richest People in all Nations where they Dwell…
Old hates mature — like wine into vinegar — and so we attain our present circumstance.
Anyway, to finish on a high note, consider this wise beast:
That’s a “Lord what fools these mortals be” gaze if ever there was one. Alternatively “Why has my hooman again failed to feed me?”
Open thread….
Image: William Hogarth, Prosperity, with Harlot’s smiles,” from “A Rake’s Progress,” 1735.
Omnes Omnibus
This post gives me a strange sense of déjà vu.
ETA: I find it interesting that Ward was a High Church Tory.
Uncle Cosmo
Um, Tom, make that Triumph of the Can’t. Apostrophe optional; just as stylish & a propos without.
This set of kkklowns make the March On Rome look like a maneuver executed by a precision drill team.
David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch
Serious buzz on twitter that Trump has made up the name “Meredith McIver” the same way he made up “John Miller”.
Bill E Pilgrim
This is the greatest sentence I’ve read in quite some time, and I’m including experimental poetry.
I don’t even want to know what it was supposed to mean, I like it that much.
I made an attempt to my head once but ended up requiring several more strokes.
TheMightyTrowel
Also working on a book today. Trying to find something not trite to say about Indigenous technological change at the point of colonial contact.
SiubhanDuinne
TIKKA KITTEH!!!
Tom Levenson
@Bill E Pilgrim: Hmmm. I see your point. Fix or not?
EBT
I should take a cue from you and work on my own project instead of listening to something that will send me apoplectic.
Tom Levenson
@TheMightyTrowel: Power unto you mon sembable.
Bill E Pilgrim
@TheMightyTrowel: veni, vidi, robot sum
(I came, I saw, I robot)
Bill E Pilgrim
@Tom Levenson:
Precisely. I assume something like “to clear my head of” but it is a beautiful thing the way it is. Maybe in parentheses?
ETA: Perfect. I had it completely backwards but who’s counting.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
So, has anyone heard anything from St. Bernard of Burlington, leader of the “revolution” and the bearer of many promises to do everything he can to fight Trump?
NotMax
Never before knew that Ned Ward frequented the pre-Disneyfied Times Square.
Oh, and it’s Triumph of the Shrill this time around.
TheMightyTrowel
@Tom Levenson: cheers. Right now it’s innovating is a process…translation of foreign technologies into indigenous cultural framework…resistance leads to retranslation something something hybridity…. sigh
Omnes Omnibus
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: You’ll hear from him on Monday.
Tom Levenson
@TheMightyTrowel: You ever wander into the thickets of the Chinese essence/Western substance dichotomy. My dad wrote about the two contexts in which that same frame was used — Late 16th c. with Matteo Ricci trying to persuade his Chinese hosts of hte possible value of Western learning, and late 19th c., when Chinese reformers tried to persuade their fellow elites that Western technological superiority did not threaten Chinese values or the value of Chinese culture. Both attempts failed, for different, but complementary reasons. Not exactly what you’re on about, but distant kin at least, perhaps.
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
Are you sure it isn’t Triumph of the Shill?
Bill E Pilgrim
Turning to non-convention-related coverage: there was an attempt on Tom Levenson’s head today in 17th century London, film when it’s invented.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: And we have a winner.
Tom Levenson
@TheMightyTrowel: As for me, I abandoned the day when it became clear I still hadn’t quite figured out the transition from bumfirking Italians to the publication of the first stock-market daily quotations. I’ll get there…
Tom Levenson
@Bill E Pilgrim: ;-)
TheMightyTrowel
@Tom Levenson: Actually I’ve kind of skimmed the edge of this but I’d love more suggestions for further reading. The book is on technological change and innovation using archaeological data and from a broadly sts perspective. Why innovations are resisted and rejected – how conservatism can be a dynamic and valuable response is one key chapter
Omnes Omnibus
@Bill E Pilgrim: Since it appears to have been self-inflicted, should we perhaps stage an intervention or something?
TaMara (HFG)
@David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch: Holy crap, that would be awesome…three more days of that story.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tom Levenson
Hookers and blow have always been a staple of the finance industry.
drdavechemist
Hooke was an interesting character, based on the biography I read a few years ago, The Man Who Knew Too Much. One could argue that he had the bad timing to be the second most accomplished Englishman at both physics and architecture at a time when the greatest in each field (Isaac Newton and Christopher Wren, respectively) was at his peak. The lack of recognition that Hooke felt he was due left hm rather bitter, and nowadays all many know him for is the force law for springs and are unaware of his many other accomplishments.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Tom Levenson: Kudos for good sportism, I had a long day and then one (1) Lagunitus IPA with dinner and I’m such a lightweight these days that I get buzzed on even that so impulse control may be slightly less firmly in place than usual.
NotMax
@Roger Moore
Have used both versions here previously. When it comes to the hours of strained haranguing from the convention stage, deliberately chose the one with that ‘r’ in it.
scav
@Tom Levenson:
The critical attention paid to things being up and down in a market environment is tempting, but the Italian element still left dangling (which is contextually sad).
Felonius Monk
Some Levity with Levenson is far more preferable than Turmoil with Trump.
Bill E Pilgrim
The RNC convention motto is “Carpe per diem”.
Or so I heard.
TheMightyTrowel
@Tom Levenson: ugh I’ve been there. Getting from Schumpeter to the gendered pattern of linguistic innovation* was the big one in chp 1
*spoiler alert: adolescent girls are responsible for most linguistic change–both in terms of vocab and in terms of grammar/phonetics. This is true cross culturally and, at least in the post medieval period, historically. Other women rapidly pick it up and it spreads but add non standard and often mocked language forms until their sons learn it from them a generation later at which point it becomes standard mainstream usage.
Ferdinand
Thanks for the open thread! I’m days away from a business relaunch in the Denver area myself. Finished up the biz card design in Photoshop today over by the pool in my apartment complex, and the website’s coming along nicely. (I’m a Drupal pro, for the site builder crowd.) Part of my upcoming work looks like it will involve media projects for Colorado Democrats. Yippee!
Omnes Omnibus
@TheMightyTrowel: Like, totally. Gag me with a spoon.
NotMax
@TheMightyTrowel
Gag me with a spoon.
;)
More seriously, don’t discount adolescent males. For example, words and phrases which have filtered into common usage from surfing culture.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
If you’re going to set up shop in my head I’ll be obligated to charge rent.
:)
(Great minds and all that.)
scav
@NotMax: & @Roger Moore: If we manage a quick 100-yr dash back from Late 17th century London to that of Shakespeare, “Will” handily has the meaning (coyly stated) 5. A slang term for the male sex organ..
Bill E Pilgrim
Worst financial adviser firm I ever used.
Mike in NC
@David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:
Many good con artists will use multiple identities. Trump must have an entire desk drawer filled with bogus drivers licenses, passports, credit cards, stationery, etc.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bill E Pilgrim: Ever been to their holiday parties?
scav
@TheMightyTrowel: Any differences noted in cultures that are matrilocal v. patrilocal v. otherly localed?
Bill E Pilgrim
@Mike in NC: Via Digby this was a pretty damning quote pointing to the likelihood that it was him:
SiubhanDuinne
Who is this screeching blonde in blue?
Peale
@Mike in NC: He strikes me as the kind of guy who’d submit bogus financial statements and corporate records to people when trying to secure loans knowing that they won’t check everything. I would not be surprised in the least to find three or four names of boards of directors of various paper corporations and pass through dummy entities set up with alias of Trump and his children listed as external board members preferred shareholders. For all we know Meredith McIver owns 1/2 his golf course in Scotland.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Omnes Omnibus: No, but what a mistake. They convinced me that I was invincible, but I was actually getting totally screwed.
NotMax
@scav
Little known that he changed his name from Schlongspeare.
“Nobody wants to see that plastered on the cover of a folio, Willie.”
:)
Juju
Tom, you used to tell tales of your kitchen renovation foibles. I’m assuming that since you are still here on this planet, that the renovation is complete. My guess is that if renovation was still going on that you’d have hung yourself in a closer by now. Did you ever post pictures of the completed kitchen?
debbie
@David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:
From the Post.
TheMightyTrowel
@scav: not that i know of because so much of language learning happens when children are young enough to be largely in their female relatives’ care. That said this is not my area at all – I’m an archaeo not a linguist – but it’s accepted truth in linguistics since the 80s and every study backs up that the primary language innovators are female adolescents but that their innovations are not recognized or accepted as licit for a generation which is, more or less, when their male children are grown enough to communicate widely. Similar patterns have been found in tonal shifts or changing pronunciation in modern us cities and female correspondence from 14-16th centuries. It’s a neat area and 100% of the time is met with ‘but what about this slang a guy made up’ (sorry notmax) – these innovations ate actually about the structure of language itself not just a few gnarly new words
The Lodger
@SiubhanDuinne: Someone named Laura Engram.
rikyrah
DA PHUQ?
…………………
BuzzFeed’s D.C. bureau chief wrestled to ground at RNC party
07/20/16 10:16 AM EDT
CLEVELAND— BuzzFeed’s Washington Bureau Chief John Stanton was wrestled to the ground by security at his outlet’s own party at the Republican National Convention, a party with a theme celebrating blacklisted reporters.
At BuzzFeed’s “Red, White and Blacklisted” party, held on the rooftop of a swanky hotel in downtown Cleveland, reporters sipped cocktails, one named after Stanton, while scenes of McCarthy-era hearings played via giant projector. Katie Couric, Chris Soules of “The Bachelor” and TV writer and producer Liz Meriwether all mingled and at one point, Republican strategist and Fox News contributor Karl Rove stuck his head in to see what was going on.
But it was former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani who created the most drama. Giuliani, drinking a scotch neat and smoking a cigar, was leaving the party with his giant entourage when Stanton tried to ask him a question.
According to several witnesses, security — which was heavy while Giuliani was around and included men in bulletproof vests — wrestled Stanton to the ground near the elevator banks.
“John was reporting and asking the mayor a question, which resulted in a misunderstanding with hotel security,” a BuzzFeed spokesperson said.
“None of Mr. Giuliani’s employees or security were involved,” said John Huvane, CEO of Giuliani Security & Safety.
scav
@Peale: Maybe dances about on her tippy toes while Sergei Roldugin plays cello alongside?
Bruce Webb
Laura Ingraham
SiubhanDuinne
@TheMightyTrowel:
I believe The Wisdom and Collected Sayings of Melania Trump will help.
Corner Stone
@rikyrah: Stanton is a pretty solid dude. I can only hope there is video.
SiubhanDuinne
@Bruce Webb:
Thanks. What a shrieker.
rikyrah
sean.
@SeanMcElwee
Trump blamed his own failures on black accountants, saying “laziness is a trait in blacks.”
Tom Levenson
BTW all: ducking out to cook/eat supper. In the meantime: friend don’t let friends vote Republican.
Credenzal Jocularity
@The Lodger:
She did a not-very-subtle palm down arm straight salute In the ending flourish that I expect to be screen capped and meme-ified.
NotMax
@TheMightyTrowel
One of my minors in college was in Linguistics. Pre-80s.
Historically, would certainly grant added weight to the influence of oral history storytellers of both sexes across cultures and tribes.
SiubhanDuinne
@The Lodger:
I’ve heard of Laura Ingraham for years, and in fact I’ve probably seen her on the T&V screen on occasion. But is it wrong of me to note that I honestly cannot tell one blonde conservative from another? (Per Adam last night, I get that they’re all interchangeable, and now I know why.)
rikyrah
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Pace e Bene
@cmpnwtr
RW GOP columnist Jennifer Rubin to vote for Hillary Advises how Hillary Clinton can win over horrified Republicans
Peale
Amir, If you’re around (and you usually are) I was wondering if you could fill me in on the laws protecting reporters in Malaysia. One of my Maylasian friends posted up an article today about the US DoJ filing the Kleptocracy Act seizure of the assets of your county’s sovereign wealth fund. He was outraged, justifiably. But the whole article didn’t have a single name of a single official attached to it. It was like the fund looted itself. Nameless officials used the fund to pay off the Vegas gambling debts of other nameless officials. I was chatting with him about how odd that was. I figured it was related to libel or defamation risk. I thought as a reporter you might know – can a reporter be sued or jailed for putting in the name of an alleged crook in an article?
SiubhanDuinne
@Credenzal Jocularity:
Yeah, that was either weird or a big ole dog-whistle of a gesture. Maybe both.
scav
@TheMightyTrowel: I was just thinking about who moves as a means of language transmission and flexibility (and vague notions of the creations of pidgins and creoles) because the womens’ (or perhaps mens’) circles will be differentially exposed to linguistic differences and have to adapt / innovate (on a day to day constant basis within group). The lag in general acceptance does rather suggest womens’ circles being more active, but the adolescent females seems a bit trickier. I’ve just got a geography/anthro combo going so tend to go straight to spatial factors (which can certainly lead one astray).
rikyrah
TWITTER TRUTH
……………
Kragar @Kragar_LGF
Post a black persons mugshot on twitter and you’ll get their life history in an hour.
“Meredith McIver” 4+ hours and we still got nothing
4:01 PM – 20 Jul 2016
SiubhanDuinne
@Tom Levenson:
I read that first sentence and came away convinced that you were going out for a duck dinner.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Great name for a garage band.
Fungible Blondes.
(And a gold star for use of the term aleatoric earlier.)
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
That’s because we’re pretty sure “Meredith McIver” doesn’t actually exist.
:-)
dmsilev
@rikyrah: Memo to Hillary: It’s a trap! Don’t listen to anything Rubin says, or at the very least, do the opposite of what she suggests.
rikyrah
Alycee
@jazziz2
The Real Problem With Melania’s Speech is The Racist Hypocrisy of Her Adoring Audience
Peale
@rikyrah: Isn’t she supposed to help Mrs. Trump with marketing her business? There is no such thing as someone in charge of marketing who has left no forwarding address, online trace of themselves, or no one can remember meeting.
Mnemosyne
Note to self: reading history books about how everyone in the Regency Era was walking around unbathed and with rotting teeth is kind of a buzzkill when trying to write a romance novel. Eeeeewwwwww.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
Well, at least he shares the racism. He followed that line by saying he’d prefer “short guys in yarmulkes” as his accountants.
Credenzal Jocularity
This next blonde lady was like playing a 78 at 45.
Bill E Pilgrim
@rikyrah:
So she’s suggesting that Hillary Clinton should stop being intolerant, thick-headed and incurious, and without any feeling for others.
This is the problem when right-wing Republicans try to act like reasonable people, they’re still looking at things from the FOX News bubble.
“If Hillary Clinton just admitted that she killed Vince Foster, then people might believe her again!”
rikyrah
Ann KirkpatrickVerified account
@Ann_Kirkpatrick
BREAKING: Kirkpatrick out-raises McCain in second quarter by nearly $250,000
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
“They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a fungible blonde.”
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
Oh yeah!!
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m wondering if pundit Kathleen Parker has been heard from yet. She’s been known to have occasional moments of lucidity, especially when it comes to things that could adversely affect her bank account, like the financial meltdown.
Credenzal Jocularity
Come on Cmd. Collins, let’s see one RNC speech without the Thunderdome chanting “Lock her up!”
Iowa Old Lady
@SiubhanDuinne: I can’t tell them apart either.
Alert! Theorizing on standards in women’s appearance ahead: I used to do this writing exercise with students where I’d cut pictures of women’s faces from magazines and pass them out. Students had 5 to 10 minutes to write a description of their pictures. Then I’d tape the pics to the wall and the students would read their descriptions aloud while everyone else tried to guess which picture they wrote about. It was fiendishly difficult to describe conventionally pretty models in a recognizable way. Bella Abzug’s pic was in the pack, and the class could always pick her out, but blond model #5? No way. Beauty standards flatten out women’s appearance. They’re not allowed to have individualities. Those get coded as oddities.
The appearance of conservative blondes tends to be uniform like that. It’s only a tendency, and it’s often an appearance that’s not attractive to me, but it does seem to happen.
Tom Levenson
@Juju: @Juju: never did. It’s pretty sweet.
NotMax
@Credenzal Jocularity
They’ll transition to “Lynch her!” soon enough.
@SiubhanDuinne
:·)
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Aleatoric is a great word. It’s rare to have an opportunity to drop it, appropriately and correctly, into the conversation.
@Mnemosyne:
Lawsamercy, I haven’t thought of Kathleen Parker in years! I’ll wander off and see what I can find.
Schlemazel Khan
@David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:
Apparently she is a real person that really works for the ass. But she is also a registered Dem so I think that verifies my belief that the rick roll was put in the speech on purpose as a giant FU! to the Drumpf candidacy. The poor woman has actually co-authored books with ‘ol ferret head.
NotMax
Sorry, MSNBC, it is in no way, shape or form “Breaking News” that Pence will be nominated tonight.
Journlism, we hardly knew ye.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Iowa Old Lady: Exhibit A.
That’s what the (male) idea of female beauty has so often been, “perfection” which means an ironing out of differences, which is to say loss of individual character.
When I saw Trump surrounded by his family at one of the events before the convention that’s exactly the video I thought of, and I think even mentioned that here.
Credenzal Jocularity
@NotMax:
She did it! Easily the most positive message this week. Although you know who ELSE threw in a non-sequitir space exploration campaign promise to try to dupe the Trekkie Bloc.
Iowa Old Lady
@Bill E Pilgrim: Good example.
NotMax
@Credenzal Jocularity
Who promenade on the beach wearing Warp Speedos.
;)
Mary G
@Iowa Old Lady: When I was saw Melania Trump had kept her dark hair, I thought she must have a bit of backbone.
PPCLI
I imagine that other parts of this guy’s writings would indicate anti-Semitism, which was the overwhelming default position in 1680 in England. (It was only 25 years earlier that Cromwell had quietly allowed Jewish merchants to migrate to England, following an official expulsion that had lasted over 350 years. There was substantial unhappiness with the decision.) But this particular remark doesn’t in itself indicate a poor opinion of Jews. Rather it is a sarcastic observation on/rejection of the idea that the Jews are hated by God: If God really detested them, they wouldn’t be prosperous. But they are.
dmsilev
Note to current speaker: No, giving a short speech in Spanish will not convince Latinos to vote for Trump.
Mnemosyne
I had heard a vague mention of this earlier today, but apparently Third Eye Blind played at an RNC-associated event and trolled the fuck out of them.
NotMax
Oh come on. Really? Background color on the big screen behind the Hispanic person speaking at the moment is light brown.
Credenzal Jocularity
@NotMax:
Set phasers to FUN!
Roger Moore
@Iowa Old Lady:
Maybe that’s why it’s considered gauche for two women to show up at an event wearing the same dress: they aren’t allowed any individuality of their own appearance, so clothes become the only way of telling them apart. Meanwhile, men are allowed to have our own faces, so we can all wear indistinguishable suits.
K488
@Mnemosyne: Raymond Chandler has one of his characters in The Long Goodbye comment on just that. Memorable line: “Their fingernails stank of stale gravy.” Makes me wince every time I read it.
dmsilev
dKos liveblog:
Credenzal Jocularity
@dmsilev:
At least he seemed like he practiced. I almost had BINGO with his littany of Obamawoes, but I needed Solyndra or Dr. Gates.
rikyrah
Bill MaherVerified account
@billmaher
Trump’s sons (Douchbag Von Fuckface and Thurston Shitbag the 3rd,you’ll recall) look like the date rapist in every after school special ever
SiubhanDuinne
Hey, this guy talking now is plagiarizing Thomas Jefferson!!
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:
I swear I heard on the news yesterday that the speech writer said the draft (s)he delivered to HQ had none of the lifted material in it, that someone from way high up fiddled with the delivered draft.
? Martin
Man, Democrats could never get away with having a black speaker this angry.
SiubhanDuinne
@K488:
~ gag ~
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@K488: Fussy question, but would one actually detect the scent of someone else’s fingernails.
dmsilev
So, I was curious to see whether Trump’s June FEC report was up yet (nope). Went to fec.gov and did a search for filings from candidates named Trump. The first one in the listing is “Trump, Don’t Vote For”, running for President under the Communist Party banner. Also of note, “BERNIE SUPPORTERS FOR TRUMP” appeared in mid June, just a couple of days after the DC primary.
hovercraft
So tonight is token minority night?
Kathleen
@NotMax: Or Triumph of the Swill?
SiubhanDuinne
I can’t, I just simply cannot. Please, someone, put up a fresh thread when the major speeches begin. Because this is just painful, this energy guy.
NotMax
@hovercraft
The shitzkrieg trundles on…
Pogonip
@SiubhanDuinne: Don’t feel bad, I can’t either. The Bimbotron 4000 makes perfect copies!
hovercraft
@? Martin:
He’s angry about that angry black man at 1600 and the bitch who wants to replace him so it’s okay.
Pogonip
I tawt I taw a puddy tat!
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Surely you can spot the Coulterwocky, yes? The claws that catch, the Adams apple that bobbles?
K488
@SiubhanDuinne: I know!
SiubhanDuinne
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
I’m still curious about that rickroll.
(No, autocorrect, it’s not “trickle.”)
schrodinger's cat
@Iowa Old Lady: I think this is a very American thing, the standardization of what is beautiful. Hollywood and fashion industry have a very narrow definition of what is beautiful. I find much more variation in who is considered beautiful/handsome among Indian actors or even British actors for that matter.
SiubhanDuinne
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Yes, but only on those occasions when it is especially frumious.
(Wow, autocorrect just HATES Lewis Carroll.)
Pogonip
@Iowa Old Lady: have you ever seen those articles showing models before they are made up and airbrushed? They look like anyone else, only skinnier.
Punchy
That cat has a nice isosceles triangle on his face. That’s a sin of a good pet. Sorry to go off on a tangent.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
”Twas brilliant, and the slight trove
Did gyre and gamble in the WABE.
All missy were the boron rove,
And the moderates out grave.
See what I mean?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Man, that’s a thin-ass book.
Quinerly
Pence, family, and aids join in prayer when they all get out of his motorcade in the parking lot at the convention.
NotMax
Hm. Scott Walker wearing the exact same tie as did Trump, Jr. last night.
Is there a coin operated rack o’ ties backstage?
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: ties are so weird.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Oh, I hate auto-correct! I think The Oatmeal website has a very funny comic devoted to that devilry.
SiubhanDuinne
@Punchy:
Wouldn’t it be fun to have an entire set of triangular cats? Not just isosceles, but scalene, right, equilateral, acute, and obtuse.
hovercraft
[email protected]schrodinger’s cat:
Have to say after seeing all the drump barbies Mrs. Pence is refreshing a woman who looks like a real person who is comfortable in her skin.
Credenzal Jocularity
Perfect backdrop to Walker: the square root of 2
Pogonip
@NotMax: yes, it’s right beside the Bimbotron.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
Which terror alert level is light brown?
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Have always wanted to hear a weatherperson say “Tomorrow, partly cloudy in the morning, with a chance of brillig,”
SiubhanDuinne
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Is The Oatmeal the website that recently shut down, or am I thinking of The Toast? I always get those breakfasty-sounding blogs confused in my mind.
hovercraft
Scotty is showing the country why he couldn’t hack it as a candidate, god he is awful. We get it America deserves better than Drump, and don’t worry we’ll get it with Hillary.
NotMax
@trollhattan
All of them, Katie.
Major Major Major Major
@SiubhanDuinne: you’re thinking of The Toast. The Oatmeal is humorous/heartfelt cartoons.
@Credenzal Jocularity: Nice nym.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Nah, The Oatmeal is still alive. The Toast is toast (sadly).
Darn it, now I’m hungry.
SiubhanDuinne
@Major Major Major Major:
The Toast was the one with the two monks, right?
Felonius Monk
@SiubhanDuinne:
My Dear Lady – You just said tonight’s magic word, SCALENE. And for your wizardry with words you will receive a complete 4 DVD set of the 2016 Rethuglican Convention. The full and complete 4 days of RNC-CLE.
Thank you for playing.
Fair Economist
@Mnemosyne:
Alternate history, dear, alternate history. It’s not like the actors/actresses of Hamilton blacken their teeth.
Eris Discordia
@Mnemosyne: you might want to check out a couple of books by Ruth Goodman. She wrote How to be a Tudor and How to be a Victorian not exactly your era, I know, but she’s an actual historian who has reenacted those times and not like those dumb tv shows where they get suburbanites to go live on a farm for two months. She say very interesting things about unwashed bodies, etc. also, are you willing to share your name on Ravelry?
SiubhanDuinne
@Felonius Monk:
Oh, Groucho, I’m thrilled!!
schrodinger's cat
@SiubhanDuinne: Acute and obtuse are angles. The triangles classified according to the length of their sides are
Equilateral : All three sides are congruent
Isosceles: 2 sides are congruent
Scalene: All sides have different length.
Punchy
@Roger Moore: Well, if the women just went topless we could use better distinguishable features to keep them straight….
SiubhanDuinne
@Punchy:
Cosine.
Credenzal Jocularity
@Major Major Major Major:
This season always brings out the lurkers like me. I was looking for something that said “I feel like I know you all since I’ve read and respected your work for years” without actually saying that.
Oh wait. Blew it.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Felonius Monk:
Yessss, it’s the complete 2016 RNC convention on DVD! And if you act now, you’ll also receive the life-size poster of Donald J. Trump and the Mike Pence edition of Trivial Pursuit!
How much would you pay now? But wait! You’ll also receive….
hovercraft
Since little Marco is taped, I guess he won’t need any water. What the hell? Was that a preview of his 2020 campaign commercials?
NotMax
@Fair Economist
Whose job is it to reset the Days Without Hamilton counter?
NotMax
@hovercraft
Points for consistency.
Doesn’t attend the Senate, doesn’t attend the convention.
schrodinger's cat
Tikka is a serious cat and this a serious blog. He does not approve of your frivolity and jokes at his expense.
ThresherK (GPad)
@West of the Rockies (been a while): I still miss Suck.com. I try to describe it to TheKidsToday but I fail.
I recommend Robot-hugs for cat comics and other neat stuff.
scav
@NotMax:
Catching up. Because Speare is so utterly without imagery.
The arms of Willie Schlongspeare could have been
‘Gules (red), on a bend (diagonal bar) sable (black), three spears of the first (i.e. red), steeled argent (with a silver tip)’ and we won’t even get into what might have been his supporters.
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
Most cat lovers I know would swear that you could never have an obtuse cat.
The Lodger
@Brachiator: Clearly, they have not met my cat.
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
But every cat I’ve ever known was acute one.
inventor
@NotMax: Triumph of the Swill
Mnemosyne
@Eris Discordia:
I’ve seen Goodman’s books but I wasn’t sure where she started her Victorian era. If she has some early Victorian stuff, I still might be able to use it.
I’m not really active on Ravelry right now, except for keeping some patterns on there. I really need to do a serious update of my account.
ETA: As I’m sure you know, technically the Regency Era is the last couple of decades of the Georgian Era, while the Victorian Era was quite different. Interesting that as women pushed for more rights, their clothes and corsets became more and more restrictive.
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
Bullies will out, ain’t they?
Never trust a group of bullies, together they lose all contact with reality, which is obscured by their common vision of beating the crap out of someone who “deserves it”. Like the host of a party they were barging in on.
This is who Republicans want to elect, bullies.
Origuy
@Eris Discordia: Goodman made a series for the BBC about an experimental archaeology project in France to build a complete medieval castle using period tools and techniques. The castle is called Guedelon. Well outside the Victorian era, I’m afraid. The series was fascinating, though.
Amir Khalid
@Peale:
We have libel and slander laws modelled on those of Britain, more or less. But editors tend to be scared shitless of what the home affairs ministry can do to a paper’s publication licence — during my first hitch at The Star in the late 1980s, we lost ours for seven months over our coverage of a crackdown on the opposition. No publication licence, no paper. In the mainstream media here, one treads very very carefully when reporting on national politics or certain business stories. Better to leave a source unnamed and a hole in the story, than to have the paper shut down.