Hey, folks! I still exist. I’m just having another unplanned migraine vacation — same thing yesterday — so I may not get to posting anything today beyond this.
The tweet below has pretty much exhausted my creativity for the day, I think.
You're gonna need a bigger stoat pic.twitter.com/kvTfWKVj8r
— David Futrelle (@DavidFutrelle) June 6, 2017
Oh, and as long as I’m pasting tweets, everyone should see this:
Apparently our Grifter-in-Chief stole, sorry "shifted," more than $100k from a charity for kids with cancer: https://t.co/4DQI83jnDH
— David Futrelle (@DavidFutrelle) June 6, 2017
Consider this an open thread.
@Croquembouche, poorly-dressed vandal,
Egads, please be careful! The Australian Mammotheers are a small band and we need you!
Also, I thought Latham got fired from Sky? Or was it just from that one horrible show?
@ croquembouche
I tried, I really did. But forget the content; I just couldn’t get past the production values and the presenter. And that’s not just “oh they’re baddies so I’m going to nit-pick”; they were objectively terrible. Sound balance was all over the place, and the complete lack of preparation from the presenter. She was just winging it. She didn’t even get the name of her guest’s blog right. It was like they’d filmed two people who’d just met at a bus stop and were trying to make awkward small talk.
@ Alan, likewise couldn’t watch. All that and tedious into the bargain.
@ Mish, you’re right of course, Latham was dumped from Sky and now “broadcasts” via his Facebook page – hence the terrible production values.
Apparently there have been a few “party with the Honey Badgers” events already, and more planned in the next couple of weeks across Australia. I’m sure they were as funsome as that interview.
Aw, Seymour Fellows has a little two-tone nose thing going on, very snazzy.
How could anyone not like rats? I trained one to pull a lever for a treat for my psych class and it was so much fun. My rat, Esteban was the first in the class to get it. He was so friendly and smart. I wish I could’ve kept him. Dracarys is such a little predator that I don’t think I could safely keep a rodent pet though. When we had that mouse infestation this winter, she spent all night every night hunting.
I don’t much about about stoats, although they are cute. I’m an otter fan.
You mean he trained you to give him a treat every time he pulled a lever.
@ Victorious parasol
I am so impressed. That is some gorgeous yarn. I have just gotten back into crocheting in the last few months after not doing it for over a decade and I am a rank amateur so just the fact that you can make your own yarn I find incredibly impressive and cool.(I also want to learn to embroider. I just got some materials for it from Amazon and I’m hoping Google and YouTube will be able to teach me at least enough to make simple pieces)
@Axe and everyone talking about Redwall
I absolutely loved those when I was a kid. That series, Watership Down and the Rats of N.I.M.H were all my favorite animal books when I was young. You guys are making me want to check out the Redwall series again.
@WWTH, Axe, Fran and anyone else who’s a fantasy novel fan
I left a semi-long comment on page eight of the last comment thread directed towards anyone who’s a fantasy novel fan. I would really appreciate it if any or all of the people who fall under that definition and have time could please read it and give an answer if they have one. I would transfer it over to this thread for convenience if I knew how(if that’s even possible, I’m totally computer illiterate)Thank you so much in advance to anybody who goes to read the comment I just mentioned and answer it
Okay, I sleep during the day so I’m going to bed. I hope everyone has a fun, pleasant and/or useful day. I’m hoping to possibly finally see some good news when I wake up. I try to be an optimist cause you can always hope?
Gosh darnit, but the man is special. He must be superlative in all that he does. When he steals a family crest, he replaces “integrity” with this own wretched name. When he takes candy from babies, why, he makes sure that they are cancer babies. He probably puts thumbtacks into beggars’ bowls. Cholera laced thumbtacks.
Aw, I’m blushing now. But I am proud of that yarn, so I accept the compliments graciously with sincere thanks.
If any other spinsters/fiber artist types are interested, I blended a couple ounces of Merino on my blending board with a couple of mystery fibers from a Miss Babs Destash grab bag I got last year. I got 100 grams of fauxlags together, divided in half, and made a 2-ply DK yarn with the singles spun semi-woolen at 6.5:1 and plied at 7:1.
Katie Kitten,
I did another ASOIAF comment in that thread when you were typing out your comment here.
I have a blog about the books. If you’re interested, just click on my name to get there. It’s sporadically updated and has few readers, but those who have read it give good feedback. *shameless plug*
Do you ever comment in the westeros.org forums? I haven’t been there in a while but I used to spend a lot of time there. I’d recommend it if you want to discuss ASOIAF and read lots of really good theories and analyses. There are some assholes there, but the moderation staff is really responsive and trolls get banned really quickly so it’s generally a fairly safe place to comment.
So, Lord Dampnut related, but still interesting.
@Victorious Parasol
I’m a knitter/seamstress/fabric dyer/textile freak (not a spinster) and that is gorgeous stuff. I itch to taste it with my fingers, you know?
Combining my love of words and my love of textiles: I was recently in the Linen Museum near Belfast, and saw a hank of combed fibres, a step or two before spinning – and suddenly got the full meaning of “flaxen hair”. Thick, straight, ash-blonde, and very glossy.
@Paradoxy
Hmmm…
A civilian’s Twitter blocking someone is absolutely fine, and I suppose a government official’s personal account blocking folks is well and fine too. Trump’s personal Twitter, however, is essentially acting as a public resource, so how does that work? And do we really want these spaces left wide open for… unsavory elements? I mean, if Twitter has a hate speech problem to deal with, one would think Gestapepe Central to be the best place to start culling. Many thoughts…
@sunny
Nerdy, teal deer, overthought apologetics incoming…
At this point, that’s my headcanon. Especially cos we very rarely get to see fox kits or rat pinkies. Mouse, bunny, and badger children abound, and we see them being taught racist worldviews and having those worldviews reinforced
Weasels and crows are, at present, more prone to torture and conquest, but that’s down to geography. The books establish ‘woodlanders’ as default and settled. No need for roving bands of marauders in one’s own land. Tho, there are northern ‘savage’ tribes of shrews and squirrels that will attack or enslave anyone ‘good’ or ‘evil’. Which, I think, does lend itself to the nurture hypothesis
The strongest bit of… evidence(?) that ties this all together comes from the origin of ‘vermin’. Cluny the Scourge is thought to be a Portuguese rat. Martin the Warrior grew up fending off pirate rats and stoats from the sea. The mice and such all have anglicized names, while the weasels are given monikers like Halftail and Bageye. As if they’re all from different linguistics backgrounds, couldn’t understand each other at 1st, and just called each other what they looked like as they learned English. And they woulda looked like those things, cos piracy is a dangerous job and losing half a tail wouldn’t have been uncommon
Methinks that all the ‘evil’ creatures we see are privateers or the children of same. Most of them are back home in mainland Europe being, more or less, nice to each other. The bad guys are specifically those who actively decided that invading Britain was a splendid idea, existing population be damned. Which, sure, makes them bad, but it also makes them an unrepresentative sample
Also, I doubt the reliability of the nobility of the badger narrative. They are, for all intents and purposes, conquerors too. Brocktree established an Empire from Salamandastron. He and his son, Boar, extended that territory to all of Mossflower. And then Boar’s daughter, Bella, and her mate, Barkstripe were routed by Verdauga Green Eyes. Yet, the badgers are called rightful ruler and the wildcats are tyrant even tho Verdauga wouldn’t have been considered especially cruel by historical human standards. ‘Evil’ creatures have spin placed on them that ‘good’ aminals don’t. Especially if the goodun is the local warlord instead of a foreign one
Long story short, and viridian antelope closing, I say that the fact we don’t see many baby ‘vermin’, as well as other data points, leads me in the direction of ‘evil’ aminals being no more intrinsically bad than ‘good’ woodlanders. Which isn’t to say Jacques wasn’t being incredibly shitty, cos he was. And the text is the text. But it’s something I keep in mind as I read thru the series. If just to keep perspective on how righteous I’m supposed to consider Matthias. Answer: not much, the little jerk. I dunno, it’s more interesting this way ?
@ axe
It’s generally accepted that rabbits came to Britain in 1066; although there’s a less well accepted theory that it was AD43. Either way though it was as a result of an invasion. So I can see where they got the idea.
ETA: Not suggesting the rabbits necessarily planned the invasions. That probably was either William or Claudius (there may have been rabbit lobbyists I suppose).
Vicky P – That skein of yarn has me drooling and my fingers tingling! It’ll make a luscious scarf. I’d love to spin, but my carpal tunnel prohibits it (I tried it a couple of times.) I’ve had to revert to mainly crochet since knitting is way more painful but I can’t quit the sock knitting because crocheted socks are lumpy.
Paradoxy – I wonder if Трумп thought he could skirt the First Amendment issue by using his personal account? More likely, he was (mistakenly) told that by an adviser.
I am very worried about Iran and Qatar. While I dislike a lot of aspect of thoses countries, I sure don’t wish them to become the new Irak.
@Victorious Parasol: I love playing on my blending board, it’s such fun. I hope someday I can spin a bit more intentionally, but for now I go seat of my pants. I have two ratios on my Ashford Traditional’s flyer but only ever use one! I think it comes of being technical in my day job. I don’t want to think when I spin!
Good luck to all of us Brit-type mammotheers for tomorrow – looks like turnout will be crucial, so don’t forget to check out
https://mynearestmarginal.com/
if you can manage an hour or two helping to get out the vote where it counts the most!
@opposablethumbs,
Yes, good luck tomorrow!
Just leaving this here… Reality Winner is the name of the person who allegedly leaked NSA documents…
Recent late night TV host’s take on it:
“Trump is at war with Reality”
I’d also state that she is more of a Winner 😀
Oh, Redwall. Yeah, some gems and a bunch of stinkers. I’m also a sucker for food porn, even if it’s text-driven, so I enjoyed the banquets.
Redwall fans might enjoy The Mouse Guard graphic novels, which is a little more… grounded than the Redwall books while maintaining a similar tone. It’s literally about a mouse civilization, so it bypasses a chunk of the racial undertones even if it doesn’t escape it completely (I.e. Most animals talk, but are very much animals. Only the weasels have a competing civilization, but war between the two kingdoms is past history rather than present plot).
Speaking of weird politics in talking animals books, has anyone read WIlliam Horwood “Duncton Woods” series? They’re… deeply weird, and not necessarily in a good way. I don’t want to recommend them, but at the same time, I want to find someone else who has read them so I can at least talk about it. =/
@Axe
I do like that headcanon, and I would have loved to have seen more baby vermin, but Outcast of Redwall had such a shitty message about them. The badger maven of the abbey, meant to represent all that is good, purposefully named Veil that because it’s an anagram for ‘evil’ and ‘vile’ and she suspected he would grow up to be so. Heck, even as the ferret kit is abandoned by his own kind, too young to walk or speak, he’s portrayed as a vicious savage, biting Bryony and devouring ‘frogspawn’ in a deliberate evocation of repulsive imagery. We’re not supposed to find this tiny baby ferret sympathetic or cute, and the hares and Redwallers certainly don’t. This was an excellent change for a message about prejudice, but instead, we’re supposed to agree with them and see Bryony as utterly naive.
I guess it could be argued that Veil grew up to be a jerkass because of how the Redwallers treated him and spoke to/about him, but I found it exceptionally poisonous that even after Veil dies protecting his mouse foster mother, and the badger mum says that maybe she was wrong about Veil, she is immediately corrected by Bryony saying ‘no, he probably wouldn’t have saved me if he knew he’d get killed.’ So there. Veil bad, Redwallers good, because how could a ferret be a good guy?
Then we have the Taggerung, which presents the opposite narrative: an otter cub raised by ‘vermin’ to be a killer. This could have been a really interesting look at vermin society and nature-vs-nurture, but again, Tagg never truly likes his adopted family, he never accepts the views they teach him, and he’s ultimately good because, well, he’s one of the ‘good’ species. He just can’t help but be good.
Even my very favorite morally gray Redwall character, Romsca, gets the short end of the stick as she dies (heroically), saying she wishes she could been born a ‘good beast.’ She isn’t corrected from this view, though this would have been a perfect time for the abbot to tell her that she was a good creature. Instead she just dies, presumably believing she was inherently bad.
The comic-relief vermin don’t get off any easier. The goofy, harmless stoats Dingeye and Thura, some of the most sincerely entertaining characters in Salamandastron, show no genuine malice or aggression towards the woodlanders. They bumble their way into Redwall and show a real interest in staying, but they flee because they accidentally kill someone while goofing off and are terrified of the possible retribution. They subsequently die gruesome deaths, and when the Redwallers find them, they do give them a proper burial – while making sure to mention, of course, that they ‘were bad creature(s).’
Is it possible that many vermin lash out and become wicked because it’s the only path expected or offered to them? Growing up being told that you can only be evil because of the circumstances of your birth would screw anyone up. That could have been another interesting possible storyline. But then there are still Veil and Tagg, and their stories honestly piss me off the most, because they’re the ones that truly work to hammer home the idea: nurture be damned, lowly species are low, and you are doomed to what you are born as.
This turned out really long, I’m sorry. D: You’ve turned on my nerd switch. I hide now.
Forgive me hambeast but when you spelling Trump on russian you need put like this ‘Трaмп’ with ‘a’ not ‘y’. That how they making this english ‘u’ sound for Trump. ))
RE: Redwall
Brian Jacques is a racist ass, and I didn’t pick up on that until Outcast. The entire characterization of Veil was just fucking wrong.
But there’s an important parallel here – medieval Christians considered the Norse to be inherently evil, Rome considered the “Barbarians” to be inherently worthy of destruction, and so forth. They act much like the Redwallers, touting their so-called civilization and religion as superior.
The only difference? Both Christians and Romans were ultimately in it for power instead of self-righteousness, so total compliance to their wills saved at least a portion of those they targeted.
I honestly sympathized a lot with Asmodeus. Does a serpent even have an option for living that doesn’t involve eating rodents? No, they don’t. So why are they evil? They’re doing what they were meant to do in a very real way. Dangerous predators. Threats to public safety. Damned by their nature in a far more real way than the designated “evil” species. Possibly gods relative to the setting. But not evil.
@ Katiekitten420
Over the years I go through phases. Bead weaving (by hand, not on a loam) to knitting & crochet and back again. I am currently back in knitting and crocheting. Youtube is your friend. You can even learn to spin, using a drop spindle, which is SO much cheaper than a wheel (you can even make one for a few bucks or from household stuff if you have a garage full of random crap like I do). There are also ALL kinds of tutorials for a pretty much anything. I’m finishing off a hooked rug for my granddaughter, but I think I want to try entrelac knitting next.
@Victorious Parasol
Oh and that IS a lovely blend in that skein. I bought a yarn swift a few weeks ago because I find the yarn I like the best almost always comes in skeins and making balls from them is a pain in the ass without a swift. The swift is built sort of like an umbrella, so it fits any diameter skein, and holds it while you unwind the skein and then wind it into a ball. I also found out how to make “center-pull” balls that are so much easier to knit and crochet with.