Tag: freakshow

In which I find myself in rare agreement with Megan Mcardle:

I travel a lot, and I’ve had housekeepers walk in on me in various states of undress, especially in hotels with turndown service (yes, yes, now that I’m a more seasoned traveler, I try to engage the chain or the deadbolt before I undress). Not a big deal for me, but I’m sure it could happen to a male traveler perfectly innocently. So could a wardrobe malfunction–the robes in many hotels are not exactly overgenerous, especially for the burgeoning middle-aged physique of a chairborne warrior.

Just last month, I was traveling and staying in a hotel. Despite the fact that I had not checked out yet, the door was locked, and checkout was not for another two hours, I heard housekeeping fumbling with the door as I stepped out of the bathroom fresh from a shower.

And even though I twice called out that I was in the room, the woman unlocked the door, opened it, and walked in on me, before apologizing and retreating in some disarray. I thought nothing of it at the time, but I have no doubt that had I been the one entering the locked room, many women would have considered it a case of sexual harassment and near rape. Especially since there was no “do not disturb” sign on the exterior doorknob.

“The door was locked… I even told him TWICE that the room was occupied, but he INSISTED on entering!”

I’m not attempting to defend DSK’s actions in any way, shape, or form, but it is downright ridiculous to insist that it is the women who are entering locked rooms are somehow the victims of the men they occasionally surprise. I’m not saying that there are no exhibitionists – male or female – staying at hotels whose behavior is objectionable, but I would be willing to be that the greater part of those who are surprised sans clothing are perfectly innocent hotel guests who are operating under the erroneous assumption that a locked door is sufficient to provide them with privacy.

Mark Zuckerberg is challenging himself:

When he’s not too busy connecting people across the universe, Mark Zuckerberg is pursuing a new “personal challenge,” as he calls it. “The only meat I’m eating is from animals I’ve killed myself,” says the Facebook founder and CEO.

It’s an odd dietary direction for the 27-year-old Internet billionaire, but since he has taken to killing goats, pigs and chickens, “I’m eating a lot healthier foods. And I’ve learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals,” he says. “It’s easy to take the food we eat for granted when we can eat good things every day.”

Zuckerberg’s new goal came to light, not surprisingly, on Facebook. On May 4, Zuckerberg posted a note to the 847 friends on his private page: “I just killed a pig and a goat.”

I give him five years before he’s hunting humans on his private island off the coast of Africa. In the meantime, he can a) attempt to best Tiger Woods’s off-course record, b) score all 249 stars in Guitar Hero Metallica, and c) dedicate himself to becoming the Ultimate Champion.

In which Susan Walsh takes a weird little personality test. I took the same test and got the following result:

Thoughtful to the extreme, you are often obsessed with perfection and the rules governing your own personal interests. Your world is black and white. You love to work within a logical system, such as language, computer programming, or mathematics. Manipulating a system that can be completely understood is a distinct pleasure to you, because of your confidence in the underlying veracity of your belief system. Because of your appreciation for logic and order, those who speak or think in a sloppy manner are apt to generate more than their share of wrath. Although very amiable, you are not drawn to friendships out of a sense of personal need. You are just as happy by yourself with a good book or puzzle. Because you are so involved with thought, you will on occasion have difficulty dealing with the day-to-day problems of a normal life. Taking out the trash, doing the dishes, these are often left until the last possible moment, if at all.

Translation: INTJ. I expect this result will not be uncommon among the Dread Ilk.

A new biography of Gandhi tends to confirm Winston Churchill’s view of the man:

Mahatma Gandhi was bisexual and left his wife to live with a German-Jewish bodybuilder, a controversial biography has claimed. The leader of the Indian independence movement is said to have been deeply in love with Hermann Kallenbach…. Kallenbach was born in Germany but emigrated to South Africa where he became a wealthy architect.

Gandhi was working there and Kallenbach became one of his closest disciples. The pair lived together for two years in a house Kallenbach built in South Africa and pledged to give one another ‘more love, and yet more love . . . such love as they hope the world has not yet seen.’

A love story involving Gandhi, Jews, and gays… no doubt we can expect to see at least three major Hollywood movies made out of this. As NRO’s Andrew Stuttaford points out, Gandhi was actually an irrelevant failure, for the most part. Of his four primary goals, the only one in which he succeeded was the Indian independence movement. Of course, the British were clearly going to withdraw from India anyhow with or without pressure from Gandhi’s movement.

And it shouldn’t be too surprising that like many who profess to love humanity in general, Gandhi tended to despise individuals with whom he came into contact. In other words, he was somewhat of a proto-Hillary Clinton.

Roissy provides a reason why men should never date vegetarian women… as if it wasn’t already a priori apparent:

I have a theory that the reason grazers react so violently to bacon aroma is because it smells SO GOOD it might tempt them to betray the Gaianist religion for which they have sacrificed so many years in penitential devotion. Bacon is the gateway meat to apostasy.

I don’t have a problem with most freak dieters, having been one myself in the past. But I absolutely loathe vegetarians. As Roissy observes, it’s not a diet, it’s a religion. And a particularly stupid religion at that. Vegetarians are among the only people on the planet who make Scientologists look rational and reasonable.

I think he’s onto something with regards to the bacon thing, however. I was seated next to a vegetarian who hadn’t eaten any meat for five years, but the excellent jambon negra on the start plate provided too much of a temptation for her and after “just trying a bite”, she ended up helping polish the whole thing off.

The epic wit and wisdom of Charlie Sheen:

“I’m not bi-polar, I’m bi-winning. I win here and I win there.”

“I’m gonna say this. It’s a polygamy story. All my guy friends are gonna like throw tomatoes at me. It’s like an organic union of the hearts. Together, it’s like, it’s on.”

“I’m different. I have a different constitution, I have a different brain, I have a different heart. I got tiger blood, man. Dying’s for fools, dying’s for amateurs.”

“I’m tired of pretending I’m not special. I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars.”

“I have a disease? Bullshitt. I cured it… with my mind.”

“I have defeated this earthworm with my words – imagine what I would have done with my fire-breathing fists.”

“My fangs are dripping tiger blood.”

I have to say, I am totally with him on the tedium of false modesty. And forget Two-and-a-half Men. In these latter days of Survivor: Dancing with the Teen Mom Idol Chef, how in the name of all that is pure win does Charlie Sheen not have a reality show?

It’s a crime, it’s a tragedy. Not a single tiger’s blood pearl that drops from those cocaine-encrusted lips should be lost to posterity.

This may be the best NFL scandal yet. I don’t dare think about this too much or I might hurt myself from laughing… F-E-E-T, Feet, Feet, FEET!:

Just when it appeared that one of the craziest NFL seasons in NFL history could get no crazier, one of the craziest stories we can ever recall has emerged. On Tuesday, I was rendered speechless (a rare occurrence for me) when I saw the Deadspin item about the eerie similarities between the wife of Jets coach Rex Ryan and someone who previously posted a series of foot-fetish videos on YouTube.

My only regret is that it was Rex Ryan’s wife and not Deanna Favre. That would have served as the perfect capstone on #4’s career. People are so awesome, they really are. And to think some people still can’t figure out why God created Man and gave him free will.

Fly! Beezle is all growed up now:

Well, you knew the day would come. The good news is that from here on I’ll probably blight your blog no more (or at least less). The bad news is that I’ve devoted another entire blog to you, and I’m planning to aim a little higher on the leg than your ankles. It’s going to be fun, and productive, and entertaining, and most likely will last no more than a month before I lose interest in it entirely and delete the whole thing. But we will see.

Needless to say, bets will be placed on the over/under for his next deleted comment here. I’ll take the under.

The science fiction community is not just fat and unemployable, by and large, they’re also significantly less intelligent, educated, and informed than they think they are. Consider this ridiculous reaction to Elizabeth Moon’s perfectly reasonable statement about her lack of enthusiasm for the so-called Ground Zero mosque:

If you change the first paragraph to reflect the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing (and make a couple of minor edits for clarity) you get something that highlights the assumptions made in the original post:

I know–I do not dispute–that many Christians had nothing to do with the attack, did not approve of them, would have stopped them if they could. I do not dispute that there are moderate, even liberal, Christians, that many Christians have all the virtues of civilized persons and are admirable in all those ways. I am totally, 100%, appalled at those who want to burn the Bible (which, by the way, I have read in English translation, with the same attention I’ve given to other holy books) or throw paint on churches or beat up Christians. But Christians fail to recognize how much forbearance they’ve had. Schools in my area held consciousness-raising sessions for kids about not teasing children in Christian-defined clothing…but not about not teasing Jewish children or racial minorities. More law enforcement was dedicated to protecting churches than synagogues–and synagogues are still targeted for vandalism. What I heard, in my area, after Oklahoma City, was not condemnation by local churches of the attack–but an immediate cry for protection even before anything happened. Our religious group, and many others (not, obviously all) already had in place a “peace and reconciliation” program that urged us to understand, forgive, pray for, not just innocent Christians but the attackers themselves. It sponsored a talk by a Christian from a local church–but the talk was all about how wonderful Christianity was–totally ignoring the historical roots of Christian violence.

This is a impressively stupid analogy, given that the reported OK City bomber, Timothy McVeigh, was not a Christian. His religion, by his own attestation, was “science”, although strangely enough I have yet to hear scientists blamed for OK City. And it is downright bizarre to accuse Ms Moon of being a racist, given the rather obvious fact that Islam is not a race.

However, there can be no doubt that Ms Moon is clearly guilty of showing the greatest disrespect for Progressive America’s Most Favored Minority. Therefore, I disagree with those who call for her to be stripped of her status as Guest of Honor at WisCon. She should clearly be stripped of her SFWA membership, her books should be publicly burned, after which proceedings she should be stoned on stage at WisCon. I have written SFWA President-For-Life John Scalzi regarding this very serious situation and expressed my expectations that he will not only put this deeply appropriate punishment for holding an opinion contra the SWPLSFWA majority in motion, but throw the first stone himself.

UPDATE: “SF3 has withdrawn the invitation to Elizabeth Moon to attend WisCon 35 as guest of honor.”

I am SHOCKED and OUTRAGED by this action by the committee of SF3! Elizabeth Moon must not be permitted to hide from her hurtful and racist words! She must be punished! In PUBLIC! She must be stoned! On STAGE! Her books must be BURNED!