Scott Adams gets into a conversation with China state-affiliated media. FROM THE EMAIL: A reader named Mike writes (and I haven't fact checked the history): Click for more » Posted by Ann Althouse at 7:59 AM Tags: China, Christian (the commenter), Daniel (the commenter), drugs, George Floyd, history, labor, Mike (the commenter), railroad, RigelDog., Scott Adams, slavery, Stephen Ambrose "Harvey thinks Michael is a soulless, tasteless, lying prick." From "How Harvey Weinstein Survived His Midlife Crisis (For Now)," a 2004 article in New York Magazine. The "Michael" in question is Michael Eisner. If you care. I'm seeing that quote because it is in the Oxford English Dictionary, the most recent example of the use of the word I looked up, "soulless." That is, most recent for meaning 2a: "Of a person: lacking spirit, sensitivity, or other qualities regarded as elevated or human; (now esp.) lacking in human warmth, feeling, or sympathy; cold, heartless." I'm actually more interested in meaning 1, "Having no soul," because I was having a real-life conversation about the notion that some people don't have a soul, and whether, if that could be true, the soulless person could acquire a soul, and whether a person who regards another person as soulless has a moral or intellectual obligation to look inside himself and seriously examine whether he himself has got a soul. I read the news today.... "Legendary Drummer Nick Barker Thinks Modern Death Metal Has Become Soulless "There's very little artistic merit these days'" (Metal Injection). "Millionaire Sandbanks residents are at war with developers over £250m plan to build 'soulless' block of 119 flats on site of Victorian hotel where radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi set up wireless station in 1898" (The Daily Mail). "Internet slams ‘idiot’ senator who tweeted graphics attacking infrastructure bill" (Raw Story)("Each of you Republican Senators is just a soulless husk void of a heart, morals, or any ideas of value-- mere grifters and racists willing to say and do anything for money, the future be damned. What a legacy"). "Justin Bieber Continues to Gush on the Soulless ‘Justice’" (The Emory Wheel). "Godzilla vs Kong Review – Soulless CGI MonsterFest" (NerdFest). "Safaree Samuels Explains How Social Media Creates Culture of Soulless Materialism and Vanity: ‘The Reality Is Nobody Shows the Struggle’" (Atlanta Black Star)("Social media got 22-year-olds wanting to off they selves cause they don’t make 6 figures and drive a 7 series. S–t is terrible. Got Women thinking if you can’t afford a Chanel bag, you doing bad in life and offer them nothing. Got dudes thinking a good 9-5 is slavery. Nobody likes their body, nobody like their home. Just a mass group of people wanting what others have. Or pretend to have"). *** If you want to share your comment, you can email it to me here. Posted by Ann Althouse at 7:34 AM Tags: architecture, Harvey Weinstein, Justin Bieber, language, lightweight religion, monsters, movies, music, partisanship A+ on the Joe Biden Quiz. Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:55 AM Tags: Biden rhetoric "Say f*** it, put on a your string bikini, and imagine that you're a golddigger who created your own happy ending and is now giving all the cash you scored to the resistance behind your conser[v]ative husband's back." That's a photo caption by Lena Dunham that appears with a photo in "Lena Dunham's most body-positive photos on Instagram" (NY Post). It's an interesting collection of photos with captions straining at humorousness. Though the Post assumes it's all body positivity because Dunham is, we're told, a "vocal advocate of body positivity," the text and pictures don't show unalloyed positivity. Unalloyed positivity would be inane. And inconsistent with comedy. If inane, uncomic expression of the experience of female embodiment is what you want, read this other NY Post article, "Khloé Kardashian breaks silence, talks body image struggles after unwanted photo saga." Kardashian has a problem with the publication of a photograph of her in a bikini looking like a reasonably nice, ordinary woman. It runs counter to her public image as a beautiful woman, part of a beautiful-women family. How can she fight that without expressing negativity about her body, making the ordinary women of the world feel bad about themselves, and looking like she's on the wrong side of the body-positivity movement? Here's the quote she (or her people) came up with: "The photo that was posted this week is beautiful. But as someone who has struggled with body image her whole life, when someone takes a photo of you that isn’t flattering in bad lighting or doesn’t capture your body the way it is after working so hard to get it to this point — and then shares it to the world — you should have every right to ask for it to not be shared — regardless of who you are." FROM THE EMAIL: A reader named Roz writes: Click for more » Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:52 AM Tags: fat, feminine beauty, Lena Dunham, psychology, Roz (the commenter) I've been monitoring men in shorts for a long time, and I have my standards... my evolving standards... So what am I to make of this? At the link: The 85-year-old Libertarian inadvertently gave the glimpse of his liberally cut short shorts in the last seconds of a video chat on political issues with host Doug Casey. The men had finished discussing the future of personal liberty, when Paul rolled his chair back from the camera and showed just how much liberty his tiny jeans allowed his slightly tanned, thighs to enjoy. First, I'm more bothered by the comma after "slightly tanned" — "his slightly tanned, thighs." My guess is they had another adjective after "tanned" but they took it out for some reason. Maybe it was "slightly tanned, skinny thighs" or "slightly tanned, hairy thighs" and they backed off, ashamed of their body shaming. "Tanned" was okay, but the rest — I imagine they decided — was the kind of judgementalism that could get them in trouble. But the telltale comma remained. Second, I'm going to give Ron Paul a pass. It's a totality of the circumstances analysis: 1. He's 85, so I give him extra room to find whatever ways he can to greater physical ease. 2. He's at home, not out in the world displaying disregard for the aesthetic experience of others. 3. He didn't intend his lower body to be seen, but he refrained from outright nakedness or mere underpants. 4. He's a libertarian, so his theme is freedom, and the shorts express his idea of freedom (though if I were looking for freedom in a pair of shorts I'd pick something more pliable and flowy). 5. He amused us. *** There is no comments section anymore, but you can email me here. Unless you say otherwise, I will presume you'd enjoy an update to this post with a quote from your email and I'll identify you with your first name only. IN THE EMAIL: A reader named Julie writes: Best men in shorts post to date! Not only has it been a funny little joy for us all to have you share this shorts obsession with us for years, but also because we COVID weary souls in our home offices totally relate with Ron Paul. I spend hours every week in video conferencing, often with executives I have never met before. Whenever the mood at the start of a video call is bright enough and I am looking for an ice breaker, I make a joke of the fact that my professional on-camera blouse does not match my fraying sweatpants off camera. EVERY SINGLE TIME the professional on the other side reveals a similar predicament and we have a good laugh. It's become a new form of rapid trust building. Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:23 AM Tags: coronavirus, Julie (the commenter), men in shorts, punctuation, Ron Paul April 7, 2021 6:39 a.m. and 6:41 a.m. IMG_3511 IMG_3516 Posted by Ann Althouse at 8:57 PM Tags: Lake Mendota, photography, sunrise Campus today. IMG_3541 Note the forsythia in the background. There's lots of forsythia blooming around campus, so if yellow is your favorite color, now is your time: IMG_3529 And I got my own view of the brutalist building that dropped a slab of concrete on that walkway: IMG_3536 Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:00 PM Tags: architecture, flowers, motorcycles, photography, University of Wisconsin, yellowness "I had to email you, because the photo you posted of Meade catching you 'wandering off' bears an uncanny resemblance to the park in Antonioni's great film Blow-Up." "In the film, the protagonist surreptitiously photographs a rendezvous in the park. And then as he keeps 'blowing up' the prints, i.e. zooming in, he starts to think he's witnessed a murder. I thought you'd appreciate the similarity of the images! By the way, I've been reading your blog every single day for years and years. Huge fan. I love that you never skip a day, even holidays. Also by the way, I completely agree with the decision to stop comments. The commenters were often rude and obnoxious, and to the extent they drew you into conflicts and took your attention away from other things, that was a waste of your time. And your time matters to your audience -- us! I agree with the person who emailed you saying the comments had become male-dominated (I would say misogynistic). Which seems to be a theme in online comments sections. Those commenters were a tiny sliver of your audience, and frequently an unsavory sliver. Thanks for everything you do! Please don't stop! The Althouse blog is a daily delight." That's email from someone with the first name Paul. Thanks, Paul! Here's the shot from "Blowup": And here's Meade's shot of me: IMG_5590 Posted by Ann Althouse at 4:46 PM Tags: blogging, Paul (the commenter), photos by Meade Older PostsHome Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) P1030274_2 Who is Ann Althouse? To comment, just email me at annalthouse@gmail.com. Click here to enter Amazon through the Althouse Portal: Amazon I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Support this blog with PayPal Make a 1-time donation or set up a monthly donation of any amount you choose: PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online! Follow by Email Email address... Subscribe To Althouse Posts All Comments Blog Archive ▼ 2021 (796) 04/04 (48) 03/28 (68) 03/21 (57) 03/14 (66) 03/07 (60) 02/28 (53) 02/21 (56) 02/14 (40) 02/07 (62) 01/31 (53) 01/24 (61) 01/17 (56) 01/10 (58) 01/03 (58) ► 2020 (3644) ► 2019 (3453) ► 2018 (3410) ► 2017 (3818) ► 2016 (3557) ► 2015 (3788) ► 2014 (3825) ► 2013 (5118) ► 2012 (4971) ► 2011 (4463) ► 2010 (3835) ► 2009 (3716) ► 2008 (3407) ► 2007 (2915) ► 2006 (2745) ► 2005 (2920) ► 2004 (2035) Subscribe with Bloglines Powered by Blogger

Scott Adams gets into a conversation with China state-affiliated media. FROM THE EMAIL: A reader named Mike writes (and I haven't fact checked the history): Click for more » Posted by Ann Althouse at 7:59 AM Tags: China, Christian (the commenter), Daniel (the commenter), drugs, George Floyd, history, labor, Mike (the commenter), railroad, RigelDog., Scott Adams, slavery, Stephen Ambrose "Harvey thinks Michael is a soulless, tasteless, lying prick." From "How Harvey Weinstein Survived His Midlife Crisis (For Now)," a 2004 article in New York Magazine. The "Michael" in question is Michael Eisner. If you care. I'm seeing that quote because it is in the Oxford English Dictionary, the most recent example of the use of the word I looked up, "soulless." That is, most recent for meaning 2a: "Of a person: lacking spirit, sensitivity, or other qualities regarded as elevated or human; (now esp.) lacking in human warmth, feeling, or sympathy; cold, heartless." I'm actually more interested in meaning 1, "Having no soul," because I was having a real-life conversation about the notion that some people don't have a soul, and whether, if that could be true, the soulless person could acquire a soul, and whether a person who regards another person as soulless has a moral or intellectual obligation to look inside himself and seriously examine whether he himself has got a soul. I read the news today.... "Legendary Drummer Nick Barker Thinks Modern Death Metal Has Become Soulless "There's very little artistic merit these days'" (Metal Injection). "Millionaire Sandbanks residents are at war with developers over £250m plan to build 'soulless' block of 119 flats on site of Victorian hotel where radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi set up wireless station in 1898" (The Daily Mail). "Internet slams ‘idiot’ senator who tweeted graphics attacking infrastructure bill" (Raw Story)("Each of you Republican Senators is just a soulless husk void of a heart, morals, or any ideas of value-- mere grifters and racists willing to say and do anything for money, the future be damned. What a legacy"). "Justin Bieber Continues to Gush on the Soulless ‘Justice’" (The Emory Wheel). "Godzilla vs Kong Review – Soulless CGI MonsterFest" (NerdFest). "Safaree Samuels Explains How Social Media Creates Culture of Soulless Materialism and Vanity: ‘The Reality Is Nobody Shows the Struggle’" (Atlanta Black Star)("Social media got 22-year-olds wanting to off they selves cause they don’t make 6 figures and drive a 7 series. S–t is terrible. Got Women thinking if you can’t afford a Chanel bag, you doing bad in life and offer them nothing. Got dudes thinking a good 9-5 is slavery. Nobody likes their body, nobody like their home. Just a mass group of people wanting what others have. Or pretend to have"). * If you want to share your comment, you can email it to me here. Posted by Ann Althouse at 7:34 AM Tags: architecture, Harvey Weinstein, Justin Bieber, language, lightweight religion, monsters, movies, music, partisanship A+ on the Joe Biden Quiz. Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:55 AM Tags: Biden rhetoric "Say f* it, put on a your string bikini, and imagine that you're a golddigger who created your own happy ending and is now giving all the cash you scored to the resistance behind your conser[v]ative husband's back." That's a photo caption by Lena Dunham that appears with a photo in "Lena Dunham's most body-positive photos on Instagram" (NY Post). It's an interesting collection of photos with captions straining at humorousness. Though the Post assumes it's all body positivity because Dunham is, we're told, a "vocal advocate of body positivity," the text and pictures don't show unalloyed positivity. Unalloyed positivity would be inane. And inconsistent with comedy. If inane, uncomic expression of the experience of female embodiment is what you want, read this other NY Post article, "Khloé Kardashian breaks silence, talks body image struggles after unwanted photo saga." Kardashian has a problem with the publication of a photograph of her in a bikini looking like a reasonably nice, ordinary woman. It runs counter to her public image as a beautiful woman, part of a beautiful-women family. How can she fight that without expressing negativity about her body, making the ordinary women of the world feel bad about themselves, and looking like she's on the wrong side of the body-positivity movement? Here's the quote she (or her people) came up with: "The photo that was posted this week is beautiful. But as someone who has struggled with body image her whole life, when someone takes a photo of you that isn’t flattering in bad lighting or doesn’t capture your body the way it is after working so hard to get it to this point — and then shares it to the world — you should have every right to ask for it to not be shared — regardless of who you are." FROM THE EMAIL: A reader named Roz writes: Click for more » Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:52 AM Tags: fat, feminine beauty, Lena Dunham, psychology, Roz (the commenter) I've been monitoring men in shorts for a long time, and I have my standards... my evolving standards... So what am I to make of this? At the link: The 85-year-old Libertarian inadvertently gave the glimpse of his liberally cut short shorts in the last seconds of a video chat on political issues with host Doug Casey. The men had finished discussing the future of personal liberty, when Paul rolled his chair back from the camera and showed just how much liberty his tiny jeans allowed his slightly tanned, thighs to enjoy. First, I'm more bothered by the comma after "slightly tanned" — "his slightly tanned, thighs." My guess is they had another adjective after "tanned" but they took it out for some reason. Maybe it was "slightly tanned, skinny thighs" or "slightly tanned, hairy thighs" and they backed off, ashamed of their body shaming. "Tanned" was okay, but the rest — I imagine they decided — was the kind of judgementalism that could get them in trouble. But the telltale comma remained. Second, I'm going to give Ron Paul a pass. It's a totality of the circumstances analysis: 1. He's 85, so I give him extra room to find whatever ways he can to greater physical ease. 2. He's at home, not out in the world displaying disregard for the aesthetic experience of others. 3. He didn't intend his lower body to be seen, but he refrained from outright nakedness or mere underpants. 4. He's a libertarian, so his theme is freedom, and the shorts express his idea of freedom (though if I were looking for freedom in a pair of shorts I'd pick something more pliable and flowy). 5. He amused us. *** There is no comments section anymore, but you can email me here. Unless you say otherwise, I will presume you'd enjoy an update to this post with a quote from your email and I'll identify you with your first name only. IN THE EMAIL: A reader named Julie writes: Best men in shorts post to date! Not only has it been a funny little joy for us all to have you share this shorts obsession with us for years, but also because we COVID weary souls in our home offices totally relate with Ron Paul. I spend hours every week in video conferencing, often with executives I have never met before. Whenever the mood at the start of a video call is bright enough and I am looking for an ice breaker, I make a joke of the fact that my professional on-camera blouse does not match my fraying sweatpants off camera. EVERY SINGLE TIME the professional on the other side reveals a similar predicament and we have a good laugh. It's become a new form of rapid trust building. Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:23 AM Tags: coronavirus, Julie (the commenter), men in shorts, punctuation, Ron Paul April 7, 2021 6:39 a.m. and 6:41 a.m. IMG_3511 IMG_3516 Posted by Ann Althouse at 8:57 PM Tags: Lake Mendota, photography, sunrise Campus today. IMG_3541 Note the forsythia in the background. There's lots of forsythia blooming around campus, so if yellow is your favorite color, now is your time: IMG_3529 And I got my own view of the brutalist building that dropped a slab of concrete on that walkway: IMG_3536 Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:00 PM Tags: architecture, flowers, motorcycles, photography, University of Wisconsin, yellowness "I had to email you, because the photo you posted of Meade catching you 'wandering off' bears an uncanny resemblance to the park in Antonioni's great film Blow-Up." "In the film, the protagonist surreptitiously photographs a rendezvous in the park. And then as he keeps 'blowing up' the prints, i.e. zooming in, he starts to think he's witnessed a murder. I thought you'd appreciate the similarity of the images! By the way, I've been reading your blog every single day for years and years. Huge fan. I love that you never skip a day, even holidays. Also by the way, I completely agree with the decision to stop comments. The commenters were often rude and obnoxious, and to the extent they drew you into conflicts and took your attention away from other things, that was a waste of your time. And your time matters to your audience -- us! I agree with the person who emailed you saying the comments had become male-dominated (I would say misogynistic). Which seems to be a theme in online comments sections. Those commenters were a tiny sliver of your audience, and frequently an unsavory sliver. Thanks for everything you do! Please don't stop! The Althouse blog is a daily delight." That's email from someone with the first name Paul. Thanks, Paul! Here's the shot from "Blowup": And here's Meade's shot of me: IMG_5590 Posted by Ann Althouse at 4:46 PM Tags: blogging, Paul (the commenter), photos by Meade Older PostsHome Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) P1030274_2 Who is Ann Althouse? To comment, just email me at annalthouse@gmail.com. Click here to enter Amazon through the Althouse Portal: Amazon I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Support this blog with PayPal Make a 1-time donation or set up a monthly donation of any amount you choose: PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online! Follow by Email Email address... Subscribe To Althouse Posts All Comments Blog Archive ▼ 2021 (796) 04/04 (48) 03/28 (68) 03/21 (57) 03/14 (66) 03/07 (60) 02/28 (53) 02/21 (56) 02/14 (40) 02/07 (62) 01/31 (53) 01/24 (61) 01/17 (56) 01/10 (58) 01/03 (58) ► 2020 (3644) ► 2019 (3453) ► 2018 (3410) ► 2017 (3818) ► 2016 (3557) ► 2015 (3788) ► 2014 (3825) ► 2013 (5118) ► 2012 (4971) ► 2011 (4463) ► 2010 (3835) ► 2009 (3716) ► 2008 (3407) ► 2007 (2915) ► 2006 (2745) ► 2005 (2920) ► 2004 (2035) Subscribe with Bloglines Powered by Blogger

April 08, 2021

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