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Open thread 2/3/23 — 46 Comments

  1. When you see it around you and in power… remember.

    Evil is a puppet master not the puppet

  2. Whichsoever of the opinions concerning the substance of the soul be true, it will follow, that death is either a good, or at least not an evil—for if it be brain, blood, or heart, it will perish with the whole body—if fire, it will be extinguished—if breath, it will be dissipated—if harmony, it will be broken—not to speak of those who affirm that it is nothing; … but other opinions give hope, that the vital spark, after it has left the body, may mount up to Heaven, as its proper habitation. – The Tusculanae Disputationes

  3. I enjoy seeing pictures of birds, but as a total featherphobe, I would never want to cuddle with them. I remember once my aunts were getting rid of some old chickens. The men killed them, put them in boiling water, and stripped off the feathers. After that I had no problem removing their entrails and chopping them up to freeze and use for soups and stews. I didn’t go near the feathers.

  4. expat,

    My guess is the Germans have a word for that and it would be, “Federangst?”

    In his youth my father was a fairly intimidating figure; tattoos, muscular, never backed down from a fight and willing to start one if there wasn’t currently one to back down from.

    However, put him in a room with any flying creature larger than a fly and he’d dive under the nearest table. Birds, bats, butterflies…

  5. Foe those of us of a certain age, I want to know where the other 98 “red” balloons are.

  6. Evidently our leadership regime is completely bemused by what to do about a Chinese balloon. At this point I wouldn’t be suprised if Biden welcomed our new balloon overlord in an address on national TV.

  7. The “why hasn’t the balloon been shot down” question is a real trip down the rabbit hole. The military’s statement there was no where IN MONTANA it could be shot down without endangering civilians is, of course, ridiculous.

    Are we somehow getting intelligence from monitoring it? Is the military afraid of what’s inside it, like atomic batteries? Do we actually lack the ability to shoot it down for some reason they’re covering up? Are people at the Pentagon afraid of angering their buddies in China?

    Mike

  8. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/02/fascism-and-betrayal.php
    David Horowitz is right. As usual.

    I tried to post on Fakebook a link to this powerlineblog post by Hinderaker on the jaw dropping depravity of Hunter Biden. FB refused to post it and put in me in FB jail for violating their standards on sexual content. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/02/hunter-biden-more-depraved-than-you-knew.php

    Zuck and his people are nuts. This type stuff is worse than just dumb. A political post written by a lawyer is sexual content? And even if pretzeled logic got them there, it directly affects the president of the US! Censorship can’t possibly be the right move. No wonder people have lost all respect for him. Does he really think he can protect Slow Joe and his crimes by banning the posting of a link to an article?

  9. Contrary to popular misbelief people actually live in Montana and North Dakota and it is hard to know precisely where all the debris will land.

    Do you want to pay out funeral expenses for CCP debris, Bunge?

  10. Any foreign aircraft flying over sensitive installations is suspect do we remember that e 2 over hainan islam kal 007

  11. “Do you want to pay out funeral expenses for CCP debris, Bunge?”

    From World Population Review…

    “However, for every square mile of land, there is an average of just 6.86 people (2.65 per square kilometer) and that makes Montana the 48th most densely populated area in the country.”

    Are we supposed to believe the most expensive military on the planet can’t track a balloon, figure out where it’s going, clear people out of a designated area, and then shoot it down? I mean, YOU are certainly stupid enough to believe that…but the rest of us? It’s not a plane traveling several hundred miles an hour that could spread debris far and wide. IT’S A BALLOON.

    Mike

  12. The mystery is why the administration didn’t order this thing shot down when it was still over the ocean, as soon as it entered US airspace.

  13. In Scotland crows and ravens are known as corbies, deriving from the Latin corvus which meant raven.

    There is an English ballad called The Three Ravens. The ballad is about three hungry ravens talking about what to eat. One raven notes there is a recently slain knight that might be tasty but his body is being guarded by his loyal hounds and hawks. The knight’s fair maiden (referred to as a fallow doe) revives the knight with kisses and the story has a happy ending:

    “God send euery gentleman / Such haukes, such hounds, and such a Leman”.

    The Scottish ballad, “The Twa Corbies”, is dark and sinister. Two ravens chat, noting that the hawks and hounds have abandoned the knight’s body and his lover had found someone else. They describe in rather gruesome detail how they shall eat the knight peck out his eyes and pull out his hair. The ballad ends: “O’er his banes [bones], when they are bare,
    The wind sall [shall] blaw for evermair.”

    Ravens have fascinated humans for a long time. Their images are used widely in heraldry and in family names.
    Amazing creatures.

  14. Hazel:

    I know that song, but the version I know is in between those two in morbidness. In the version I know, she is faithful but he doesn’t revive.

  15. Bunge cant figure out that the balloon is carrying a “payload,” sensors and stuff. Sad to be a Bunge and not know so many things.

    Sad that Bunge can’t anticipate that maybe the balloon is way up above parts of Montana that actually do have people. Nope. Places like that do exist even in Montana, Bunge. Ever spent any time in Montana. Bunge?

    The DOD may actually know where the balloon is and where the path of debris from the payload may end up. May end up is not the same as to know precisely where the debris will end up Bunge.

    Who is stupid again, Bunge?

    “A plane traveling several hundred miles an hour …” does this plane have those spinny things on the wings or those jet thingies, Bunge?

    Don’t be a Bunge.

  16. Bunge:

    How about they wait until the balloon is over your piece of fly over country; your very own piece if CCP payload could drop in for a visit.

    Maybe people in the military are smarter than you Bunge?

  17. The “authorities” may know what’s in the balloon, and they may know what they’re doing here. The unfortunate thing about the current left-wing idiots running our government and our military is that I no longer have the routine confidence that they DO know what they’re doing.

  18. And om reaches levels of butthurt never before imagined by the wildest theorist in Global Butthurt Studies.

    I’ve been a dick online for decades now but I’ve never encountered someone so obsessed with me that they’ll take the opposite view no matter how silly or ridiculous it makes them look

    Mike

  19. I remember the 99 Luftballons song well, but never bothered to look at a translation. Very interesting lyrics. Didn’t care for the English version.

    Denk’ an dich und lass’ ihn fliegen

  20. Neo,
    I think there are quite a few variations on both the English and Scottish versions. One old print version of The Twa Corbies was beautifully illustrated by Arthur Rackham who worked on many fairy tale books. His illustrations are quite literally fabulous.

  21. Bunge:

    Much projection sonny.

    You say some pretty fantastic things on a frequent basis; the conundrum is which is worth replying to.

    How’s your bunker going?

  22. Speaking of Ravens, old, European ballads and German lyrics; my mother-in-law used to do a sort-of German language nursery rhyme – game bouncing my infant children on her knee. “Hoppe hoppe Reiter.”

    One section of the lyrics state that if the horse rider falls from his mount in the cemetery the Ravens will eat him.

  23. Meanwhile thanks to a ratner provided atty biden has released an associate of ksm to belize of course he cried ‘torture’ and dan jones the second steele dossier compiler aided

  24. For those of us of a certain age, I want to know where the other 98 “red” balloons are.
    –physicsguy

    I remember the 99 Luftballons song well, but never bothered to look at a translation. Very interesting lyrics. Didn’t care for the English version.
    –TommyJay

    Ah, one of the great 80s songs! Even got a call-out in “Grosse Pointe Blank” (1997), a great 90s film recalling the 80s.

    Looking back, I love the 80s. Worth revisiting:

    –Nena, “99 Luftballons” (1983)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpu5a0Bl8eY

  25. Back then I thought the song was a reference to “The Red Balloon,” a French short film about a boy befriended by a red balloon, which became a children’s book, translated into English and then to become of The Books of my childhood.

    Apparently Nena’s song doesn’t recall “The Red Balloon.” Still, here’s “The Red Balloon” in its original French glory:

    –Albert Lamorisse, “The Red Balloon — Oscar Winning Short Film” (1956) (34min)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VexKSRKoWQY

  26. Been, what, fifty years since I saw it. Jackie Gleason, dressed up in European kid shorts and school cap acting out the Red Balloon, with the French. One of those Sunday evening variety shows that Maverick always beat. Nearly in tears trying to catch the “balon”.
    Both Gleason and Danny Thomas could wring out the maudlin… Something about comics’ ability to do…..

  27. Here’s a funny English/French song thing I ran into today.

    Of course, Francoise Hardy is a Ye-ye goddess. (Peace Be Upon Her.) So I’m catching up on her catalog and run across:

    –Françoise Hardy, “Pas gentille” (1964)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lxq1PdaERI

    “Pas” means “not.” “Gentille” means something like “gentle.” Google Translate says “not nice” or “not kind.”

    I knew I knew that slow, loping, rockabilly sound, but who or what, I couldn’t say. Google to the rescue. (Maybe you remember this one too.)

    –Marty Wilde, “Bad Boy” (1959)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdKa63rpE0I

    One might have thought Wilde was a cousin of Elvis or Rickie Nelson, but actually he was a Brit doing early American rock’n’roll.

    So “Pas gentille” is a French version of a Brit version of American pop.

    And still a lot of fun.

  28. Been, what, fifty years since I saw it. Jackie Gleason, dressed up in European kid shorts and school cap acting out the Red Balloon, with the French.

    Richard Aubrey:

    I’d love to see that! Unfortunately my google-fu is unable to retrieve an excerpt. Any help?

    When I learned that “The Honeymooners” theme music was composed by Gleason, though not exactly a musician, I realized he was truly an amazing guy.

  29. Speaking of doublespeak, you want to guess what topic this is about?

    “Sense-making has been enriched by challenging the overspecialization of various and eclectic dimensions and crossing disciplinary boundaries (History, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Economics, etc.). This has led to robust theory building and analytical integration, whereas epistemic transboundaries appear as much as a constraining than as an enabling interplay of structure and agency.”

  30. Has anyone actually watched the video? Everyone seems to be raven about it…

    😛

    At least two of them got together, and it was murder.

    😀

    (P.S., yes, I know, crows ain’t ravens)

  31. “Raven Bonded With Man After He Was Abandoned and Mistreated”

    OK, I didn’t have time to watch the video, but I want to know..
    How did the raven know that the man had been mistreated and abandoned?
    Who told her??

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