Random Rant Thread

[K1power]

It's not often I have something positive to say about Google, but I really like their Olympics opening anime that turns into a retro style sports J-RPG.

[K1power]

They're using the Dragon Quest theme during the opening ceremony. That's so cool.

It wasn't until the commentator mentioned it that I recognized it.

[miscmisc]

One of the main music composers and one of the art directors were fired in the last minute for having done something really politically incorrect in the past (both deserve it IMO), I mean literally in the last minute, like yesterday or something, so the whole thing felt like a mess. And who the fuck would use such a highly offensive shit reactionary song like Imagine in this day and age for such an important occasion? They seem so incredibly misguided and confused.

But then, who cares? If some people around the world enjoyed that endless random video game music medley, it was worth it I guess.

Welcome to Tokyo.

[K1power]

Yeah I read something about one of them admitting to bullying a disabled classmate. Being fired should be the least of their worries.

These opening ceremonies all tend to feel a bit long in the tooth, but I really enjoyed the medley and drone lightshow. If at some point a Goku mascotte shows up (he's the official ambassador for this) I'm happy.

[miscmisc]

Skateboarding women (street)...

Gold - 13 years old

Silver - 13 years old

Bronze - 16 years old

I don't know, man. Is this really good for the sport.

[K1power]

One of my main issues with such young medallists would be; at what age did they start? Skateboarding isn't exactly safe and very young children being exposed to its dangers, possibly being pushed by their parents is.. questionable, to put it mildly.

[K1power]

Appearing in public with unshaved armpits should be punishable by law.

Some female celebrities are also adapting it as some sort of feminist statement. Just fuck off already, you're not helping anybody.

[miscmisc]

Skateboarding women (park)...

BRONZE - 13 years old
SILVER - 12 years old


GOLD - 19 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!


A woman won, hurrah!

[gols]

Just out of interest, what is the issue you have with the age of the skaters - that putting kids in the Olympic spotlight is bad for them, or that it makes women's skateboarding seem non-serious when all the top competitors are kids?

[miscmisc]

Well, I think the Olympics should be for people who are past the child development stages. Women's skateboarding seems to massively favor the skaters who are still at the pre-woman stage of their physical development. Just look at those medalists, even the older ones. And it's not like the sport is new; It's been around for ages, yet children dominate like that.

Of course you can say similar things about women's gymnastics where one key strategy was (or still is, I don't know) to suppress the growth of the athletes, and even for swimming, where sometimes you see an extremely young one-season wonder win races and then disappear quickly next season as the female hormone kicks in. I always disliked that part of these sports, and this women's skateboarding seems to have taken it to a whole new level.

As you can see, my preferences aren't based on anything "rational." I just hate that shit is all, and last but not least, the media's obsession with youth. There's something deeply unhealthy about it, almost Freudian. I hated that when I was 14 already, so that's not my age speaking either!

[miscmisc]

What a great essay this is.

Men in Dark Times
By Rebecca Panovka
How Hannah Arendt’s fans misread the post-truth presidency
harpers.org/archive/2021/08/men-in-dark-times-hannah-arendt-post-truth/

Mapping Arendt’s framework onto Trump obscures the way his lies operated, and what they were: not totalitarian world-building so much as boardroom bullshit. Far from resorting to terror, Trump made only paltry efforts to convert his lies into action. He antagonized the press but never made moves to dismantle it. Even when he contested the 2020 election result, he made his case through lies and lawyers rather than recruiting the kind of organized military force that might have executed a bona fide coup. On January 6, there was no serviceable plan because Trump never made the defining totalitarian effort to bend reality to his fictional world. His lies never progressed beyond the singular goal of saving face.

What's truly dangerous is not Donald's uniqueness; I can assure you that he is a desperately ordinary, almost boring, narcissist.

The real danger is the state of our society where his kind of "boardroom bullshit" can thrive in this enormous, kinky orgy of narcissism.

[miscmisc]

Top scientists remain puzzled over how and why Covid spreads

web.archive.org/web/20210809172213/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/07/top-scientists-remain-puzzled-covid-spreads/

“The whole field is plagued by poor quality studies, by ideology-driven sweeping statements that cannot be backed up by science,” said Professor Tom Jefferson, of Oxford University, one of the authors on the review.

“How does it transmit? Most likely droplets and contact.”

The Oxford team also uncovered several papers which showed no evidence of airborne transmission, even when it might be expected.

LOL @ these pathetic fuckers. Oh I mean, "top scientists."

LOL @ "The whole field is plagued by poor quality studies, by ideology-driven sweeping statements that cannot be backed up by science" Like a pot calling a polar bear black.

They set the standards/criteria for the "scientific evidence" arbitrarily by themselves. No wonder they keep asserting that there is "no evidence." It's a game that they never lose. 

These losers even argue that there is no evidence that a person can produce the aerosols while speaking and coughing, when the Japanese super-computer very, very very clearly demonstrated they can and do ALL THE FUCKING TIME, more than one year ago. I guess that doesn't matter because the engineers who did the simulation aren't "top scientists" in their fucking joke field.

These fragile egos will continue to cling to the discredited idea in their scientifically fraudulent field until the kingdom comes and goes. It's no overstatement that they are responsible for countless deaths around the globe.

[miscmisc]

I just couldn't understand why most of them, the rational people in the US that I respected who had been very prudent throughout the pandemic, insisted that we should throw away masks now that people were getting vaccinated.

I do understand their argument that "you'll have to continue to wear masks anyway even after the vaccination" wouldn't give people a good incentive. Not a great message. But that was never a good argument since a significant number of Republicans/right-wingers would die on the hill of the vaccines = Assault on Freedom NO MATTER WHAT.

Of course they all regret their own mega stupidity as they lose their consciousness in the ICU bed with extremely low SpO2. But up until that very moment, they at least *think* that they are willing to die on that idiot hill.

Even with such a head start and hoarding the stocks, nearly 40% of Americans still haven't been vaccinated, and most of those people will NOT be vaccinated any time soon. You can scold them all you want, but they will NOT get vaccinated.

Meanwhile, no one is wearing masks or distancing anymore.

[miscmisc]

I mean, it was abundantly clear, way back, that this was going to happen.

[gols]

Aug 10, 2021 5:07:34 GMT 1 miscmisc said:

Well, I think the Olympics should be for people who are past the child development stages. Women's skateboarding seems to massively favor the skaters who are still at the pre-woman stage of their physical development. Just look at those medalists, even the older ones. And it's not like the sport is new; It's been around for ages, yet children dominate like that.

Of course you can say similar things about women's gymnastics where one key strategy was (or still is, I don't know) to suppress the growth of the athletes, and even for swimming, where sometimes you see an extremely young one-season wonder win races and then disappear quickly next season as the female hormone kicks in. I always disliked that part of these sports, and this women's skateboarding seems to have taken it to a whole new level.

As you can see, my preferences aren't based on anything "rational." I just hate that shit is all, and last but not least, the media's obsession with youth. There's something deeply unhealthy about it, almost Freudian. I hated that when I was 14 already, so that's not my age speaking either!

Can't really disagree with this. The diving was also won by a 14 year old (isn't this what the junior Olympics are for?)