Optimism

That is a problem for future Homer. Man I don't envy that guy.

Homer Simpson, Simpson S22E03

Initation to CSI

I think every new hire should experience an autopsy their first night.

Jim Brass CSI S01E01

Nuit Blanche 2010

The Balloon Art of Menace


The Street Level, (truck sized) Light-Brite


The Hanging Suit (body?) in in Gym with the video screens of Chandeliers


The Shadow Box of Parkdale



The Giant Metal Pine Cone


The Burning Giant Metal Pine Cone


The Swinging Fender (Audience Participation encouraged)

Philosophers

He thought. Fucking Aristotle.

Enoch "Nucky" Thompson
dealing with dumb underlings,
Boardwalk Empire S01e03

What's "motherfucker mean?

Enoch "Nucky" Thompson

I suppose its a schwarzer word.

Chauffeur

Boardwalk Empire S01e03

Funerals to Serial Killers

So this how normal people do it.
No hefty bags
No diesel fumes

Dexter, Dexter S05E01

Dead Thoughts

Nothing like walking up on a crime scene. I'm going to miss that when I retire.

Sgt Jesse Longford
Detroit 187 S01E01

Some other thoughts on Detroit 187

• Language and odd American TV laws: I have been watching so many cable show lately that actual bleeping of "bad" words is more than a little juvenile. It is difficult for a crime drama to avoid the F word because ill bred criminals swear. The Law & Orders do so with middle class preps. The CSIs do so by focusing on the messy aftermath of death and the nerdy lab geeks. At this point it hard to take seriously a non-cable drama from the US.
  
• CNN effect: Each murder is given a cute name. Locations and characters are named. Subtitles have often been described as being too onerous for average movie goers however descriptive captions can work as a dramatic device.
• Isolating with technology: Fitch, the Michael Imperioli character, mainly talks with his partner by cellphone.
• Detroit the New Beirut: the show is filmed on location in such a way to make Detroit both empty and decaying, the end result of bad government, incompetent capitalism, population decline and malign neglect.
• The Ironic Death, retirony, look it up on TV Tropes.
  

City of Narrowing Horizons

Detroit Michigan
Birthplace of Motown
And once the heart of the automobile industry
Now It has one of the highest murder rates in the country
For The Men and Women
Of Detroit's Homicide unit
Every Life Counts
Every Murder tells a story

Intro to Detroit 187 S01E01

Quotes from Terriers S01E02

As a rule I don't like getting my ass kicked for free.

Hank Dolworth
expressing the motto for all unlicensed PIs,
bounty hunters and other semi-professional semi-legitimate
law enforcement hangersons.

This thing itches

Britt Pollack

That because it belongs to a rich person

Hank Dolworth

Walking around at the nice part of track
in borrowed clothes from a friendly drycleaner

Terriers S01E02

A Different Space Race

Board Walk Empire: 1st Impressions

Opening Credits: someone is channeling Magritte.

The evil organization The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the one group more responsible for more organized crime in the 20's then any other.

"And he he took the loaves and fishes, looked at his disciples and said: fuck it we're going into the whisky business."

L. McCoy front line bootlegger
mangling Matthew15:36
in Boardwalk Empire S01E01

"You know who dies for their country, fucking rubes that's who."

Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, Patriot

False Comeback to all Dissidents

You could have lived a perfectly normal life if you were just willing to live a perfectly normal life.

Q to Dissident Q Star Trek Voyager

Odd Definition of Loyalty / Treason Among America's "Civil Rights Community"

I was listening to NPR when the when the subject of Ernest Withers, a photographer who helped the police with their inquiries, came up. Julian Bond has these varied reactions on today's Talk of the Nation.

When I first heard about this, of course I was horrified. I spent my younger years in a political culture that thought informers were the lowest form of life, and to hear that this man who is so respected for his photography...

...So he was so well-known and so honored. This is a blot on his reputation if true. And I have no doubt it's true.

There is a world of difference between helping an arm of your government for a couple of years and being a communist in the time of Stalin. Paul Robeson was life long communist. The Wikipedia page on Robeson and Communism has this chilling passage.

Historical Context

Robeson adored Stalin, even though Stalin had countless people murdered, including some who Robeson had considered friends. That's the context. The end.

War By Youth

Most armies most of the time grow old in peace and young in war.

Sport as Life

Most players don't get the perfect ending. They spend their last couple of years hurt, injured.

Former pro prospect
now gigolo Ray Decker
Hung S02E08

Sport is like life, tragedy.

Don't Bother The Angry

screen capture from Men in Black II

Steam Punk Photography

slashdot's recent poll, My Camera is..., is a little dismissive about non pixel based photography.

Thought Free Job

As you like remind me all the time, I'm not paid to think.

Britt Pollack

Terriers S01E01

Expanding Your Vocabulary Causes Questions

Since when did you get so jaundiced?

Hank Dolworth.

Since when did you start using the words jaundice?

Britt Pollack

Terriers S01E01

Man's Best Friend

Hey, hey, what are doing with him.

Britt Pollack.

I need a partner who can keep up mentally

Hank Dolworth.

Unlicensed private investigators talking
about an abducted dog on Terriers S01E01

Gold Rush Town

A gold rush ghost town is a place that was drunk for 5 years a century long hangover ago.

Character in a recent dream

Haikuized

Gold rush ghost town a
Place 5 years drunk, a century
Long hangover Ago

Character in a recent dream

The Kitchen as Workshop

The Tool Cabinet

The Work Bench

This is from a German kitchen equipment company bulthaup (sic). On Dwell, a design blog, one of their kitchens is referred as costing as much as a small house. Still it is in interesting concept may be picked up by others in the future.

Freight Elevator To a View

"Family" Television

"I think God gives us children so death won't be quite a disappointment."

Evelyn Harper, Two and a Half Men S03E07

"I'm a Doctor, not..." Blog Fodder

On Memory Alpha is an article on I'm a doctor, not a.... This video is an edited together sequence of this same catch used over and over again. This is an appropriate video from some one called SuperTrekNerd.

Patents, Copyrights and Technological Stagnation

Here, James Watt: Monopolist, is an interesting account of James Watt's legal fight to prevent the use and technological advancement of steam engines. It is on a website devoted to the "Austrian School" of economics. It points out that a patent give to James Watt leading to him focusing more on remunerative patent lawsuits that actual construction and sale of steam engines.

The article was cited in a discussion on slashdot on the British intending to focus more selling music then pointless legal wrangling, UK Music Industry Calls For Truce With Technology.

Law Enforcement Catch and Release

From Texas there is a story of immigration enforcement (ICE) being loath to arrest employers, Audits: ICE isn't cracking down on illegal immigrant employers. This is odd because the Americans already have that deal corporations who re-offend as corporations with more one employee in more than office committing the same range of crimes. The companies could be charged under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Unfortunately this law is primarily applied against criminal owned corporations instead of also criminal corporations. There seems to be a difficulty in recognizing corrupt organizations when they're not racketeer influenced.

This piece of news reinforces my belief that illegal immigration is a subsidy for bad employers. That there are also criminal employers who skate by makes them worse not better.

As an aside in The Sopranos the character Dr Melfi commented she thought RICO was a real person from the way Tony was constantly complaining about it/him.

Ethnic Joke: German & Chinese

Here's one of my favorite half-breeds. This is from the very early Dick Gregory. Back when he was funny:

Q: What do you get when you eat Chinese and German food?

A: An hour later, you're hungry for power.

Dymphna commenting on a thread,
The Thin-Skinned Need to Grow UP.

Pot as a Way of Life

Marijuana and chemotherapy go together like apple pie and Chevrolet.

Marie Schrader Breaking Bad S02E02

Ted Rall to his Future Eulogizers: Drop Dead

In his latest editorial, If I Die in Afghanistan, Ted Rall has it out with those who would praise the dead for being dead. Ted Rall is holding a future grudge for those media outlets who would praise him in death and never hire him in life. I have never understood the convention of a kind obituary if you disagree with someone in life you can disagree with someone in death.

Here is obit when the last Saudi clan leader died

Pakistan's ISI: Just Another Terrorist Group

In recent article about recent arrests of the Taliban leaders, Pakistanis Tell of Motive in Taliban Leader’s Arrest, there is reference to Pakistan's ISI displeasure in Taliban behavior. There wasn't anger over terrorism but to peace overtures.

It is too common in the Taliban war to describe the Pakistani government/military as "partners in fighting terrorism". We need to remember that the more accurate description of this state is "partner of terrorists, who we should be fighting".

Definitions of the Third World

In the discussions of BRIC there are comments of how Brazil is no longer part of the "Third World". I wouldn't categorize Brazil or Argentina or Chile as ever being part of the "Third World". At the last turn of a century these countries had living standards comparable to Western Europe. These countries had developed export markets, bustling cities, an educated populace, influxes of skilled emigrants. The problem that these countries had/have is not abnormally low living standards but a lack of growth for the last century or so.

I would describe these South America countries as not the third world but as fallen First World countries.

Columns, Specs by Vitruvius

I read Vitruvius' De Architectura (or should that be Vitruviorum De Architectura) a long time ago. One of the sections of the book is the proper proportions and spacings of columns. The above illustration is from a 1914 translation. After reading this book you notice buildings with "classical" accents that look wrong, with columns too thin, too widely spaced. I am aware that the look of Greco-Roman classical architecture was a result of limitations of building technologies and material science.

Pacific Columns is a company that provides custom made columns. Check out their column maker.

Dealing with Near Dead Criminals

In other words what is his [Krazy-8] reputation for violence?

Walter White

Well, um, he did tried to kill us both yesterday.

Jesse Pinkman

Breaking Bad s01E02

The Ballad of Fry, Bender and the Professor Lost in Time

In the Year 105105
If Man is still alive
If Robot can survive
They may fly


In the year 252525
The backwards time machine still has not arrived
In all the world there is only one technology
A rusty sword for practicing proctology


In a future year that ends with a twenty
A schlubby merman will try to get shovey
He may look like watery wimpy
When in fact he's blood thirsty shrimp


In the year one million and a half
Humankind is enslaved by giraffe
Men maust pay for his misdeeds
When the tree tops are stripped of their leaves

Futurama S06E07

The Perils of Being Mario in a GTA World

Bubbles on a Beach

University: the Place to Retrain Obsessive-Compulsives

At this stage in life I am too organized, too driven. I need to learn how to be irresponsible. I need a place where my potential won't shine through and I can veg out.

Tommy

Such a place exists?

Harry

Yeah, it does. I'm going to college.

Tommy

How to be a more normal human being discussion on
3rd Rock From the Sun S06E06

R Crumb Predicts the Future

In Zap #0 in a segment title City of the Future R Crumb has this prediction of future. The problem of absorbing the "facts & fancies" of the internet is that the direct neural input has not been perfected. People sometimes miss the biggest stories because of the sheer volume of information on the internet.

On one history program that presenter was explaining how the first renaissance men came about and why they were not generations of them. These were people a wide range of expertise. They were also part of the first generation of printing when to become an expert in a field was to read a couple books. Soon there was too much knowledge printed for some people to be experts in multiple fields.

Dead Monitor

I wonder when I'll see flat screen monitors and flat screen TVs are abandoned on garbage day. Will CRTs be antiques then.

Teenage Mutant Chi-Com Turtles

On the chicom version of Youtube is this mashup of the theme to TMNT and some Chinese communist propaganda broadcast/concert. The original video was probably from before the Cultural Revolution because the band/orchestra that we see is using western instruments like the violin.

From a link from The Vulture
on AH.com's Things that look like alternate history, but aren't.

Futurama and The Pastafarians

The FSM is seen in Futurama S06E09 protesting the teaching of evolution.

Join The Borg for the The Cool Tech

from Bob the Angry Flower

Adrenalin Junkies

You're a doctor, an army doctor.
Sherlock Holmes

Yes.
Dr John Watson

Any good?
Sherlock Holmes

Very good.
Dr John Watson

Seen a lot of injuries then, violent deaths.
Sherlock Holmes

Um, yes.
Dr John Watson

A bit of trouble too I bet?
Sherlock Holmes

Of course, yes. Enough for a lifetime, far too much.
Dr John Watson

Want to see some more?
Sherlock Holmes

Oh god Yes.
Dr John Watson

Exchange between Watson & Holmes
in Sherlock S01E01

Midcentury Modern: Another View

Jeez, it looks like an Italian hospital.

Freddie Rumsen getting hired at SCDP,
Madmen S04E02

For People Who Like Drama

Dexter's Fatherhood

Dexter:
What kind of father keeps a coffin in his garage.

Ghost Harry Morgan:
What kind of father keeps blood slides in his shed.

Dexter S04E08

"Greatness" in History

"the Great" is a title used by historians to mean "that nasty son of a bitch who often caused enough bloodshed to fill a lake and bath with his own army, had his wife/father/brother/son strangled/poisoned and planted the seeds to cause even greater blooshed(sic) after his death".

Thus Caesar deserves the title.

mailinutile2 in
Poll: People Who Deserve the Title "the Great"
on AH.com

The Future is a Total Crap Hole

...and whoever lives here is a crap based sack of crap.

Noted philosopher
Bender J Rodríguez
in Futurama S06E07

News Flash: Nuclear War Freaks People Out

This training film from 1959 is about how to deal with soldiers who are psychologically stressed from nuclear war. Apparently nuclear war is a little emotionally disturbing.

Winston Churchill - Badass

I found this on AH.com in the thread, Things that look like alternate history, but aren't. There is also the famous photo of Winston Churchill with a tommy gun, here done as a demotivational poster. Here is an opinion piece by Max Hastings, Winston Churchill the terrorist, that takes a negative view of his badassery.

Nuclear Testing as Art/Astronomy

Here is a animation/depiction, What the Hell were Thinking, of all the nuclear explosions between 1945 and 1998. Each nuclear state has its color and tone. As the years go by the rhythm of color splotches and soothing tones is relaxing.

Fifteen years ago I saw Trinity & Beyond at now vanished Uptown. The documentary was about nuclear testing and consisted of one beautiful nuclear explosion after another. 1995 was before the Test Ban treaty and the general end of nuclear testing. As someone who wore a radiation badge for a summer job I was deeply impressed.

The image below is a satellite image showing a portion of the Nevada Proving Grounds. The bumps are bomb dimples, not craters, from underground testing. The Google Maps link for below was provided by RoBt in a discussion about What the Hell were Thinking.

Cellular Biology as a Game

Cell Craft is game that teaches the basics of cellular biology. In the game you have perform certain actions that cell do all leading to cell division and beyond. I was unable to finish. I knew nothing about about cellular biology before this game and now I know I nearly nothing.

Caped Crusader Psychopath

Explanation of Dexter:

Rule 1: Every time Dexter says something that would go well with the words "I'm Batman" added to the end*, take a drink.

Random Nerd found on rpg.net

George Orwell - Resource Site

Orwell.ru is a Russian domiciled site dedicated to George Orwell. Because of differing, or nonexistent, copyright laws this site has just about everything he wrote from the early novels, the reportage/sociology, articles. It has even collected his early poetry.

In Orwell latter years he was not popular with the Soviet Union, Comintern, British communists, fellow travelers and other people with the same ideological leanings. It is interesting that his work is up on a Russian site, with Russian translations. However this site is at .ru not .su

Depressing Political Poster From Futurama

At least is it not promoting the image of some sleazy Kenyan.

Futurama S06E04

What Harm could a Leopard Do

Geopolitics and Wizards

In a thread on AH.com, Hogwarts Exposed, Xandrel has this crudely drawn cartoon about wizards and muggle racism.

The Priciples of Economics Explained

Lego House for a Lego World

The US Government - As Described By Paul Krugman

The basic picture of the federal government you should have in mind is that it’s essentially a huge insurance company with an army...

Paul Krugman in Fiscal Fantasies
post on his Blog