Requiescat

I almost never tweet, but I spend so much time there my reaction, like, I suspect, many other users, to Musk destroyng that hellsite will be like Patrick MacNee's when he gets shot in The Howling. Or, if you need another reference, like the old guy inside the oil tanker in Waterworld.

Mike Davis: 1946–2022

I’ve always been influenced by the poems Brecht wrote in the late 30s, during the second world war, after everything had been incinerated, all the dreams and values of an entire generation destroyed, and Brecht said, well, it’s a new dark ages … how do people resist in the dark ages?

What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight.

Unbiblical

The 2022 State of Theology survey reveals that Americans increasingly reject the divine origin and complete accuracy of the Bible. With no enduring plumb line of absolute truth to conform to, U.S. adults are also increasingly holding to unbiblical worldviews related to human sexuality. In the evangelical sphere, doctrines including the deity and exclusivity of Jesus Christ, as well as the inspiration and authority of the Bible, are increasingly being rejected. While positive trends are present, including evangelicals’ views on abortion and sex outside of marriage, an inconsistent biblical ethic is also evident, with more evangelicals embracing a secular worldview in the areas of homosexuality and gender identity.

These findings on the current beliefs of US evangelicals can be relied on because the source does not approve.

Cobayes Silencieux

Commemoration

Eight hours later, back to business.

Laughing

During my childhood, my family lived for most of a year in the US, and, one night, sneaking out to watch TV past my bedtime, I saw, live, for the only time in my life, Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, who, by an odd coincidence, was telling a story about my favourite British comedy show. Now, thanks to this tviit, I finally have credible evidence (at Wikipedia) that the story was true (although I falsely remember it as being about an American who was watching the show on PBS).

On 24 March 1975, Alex Mitchell, a 50-year-old bricklayer from King's Lynn, literally died laughing while watching an episode of The Goodies. According to his wife, who was a witness, Mitchell was unable to stop laughing whilst watching a sketch in the episode "Kung Fu Kapers" in which Tim Brooke-Taylor, dressed as a kilted Scotsman, used a set of bagpipes to defend himself from a black pudding-wielding Bill Oddie (master of the ancient Lancastrian martial art "Ecky-Thump") in a demonstration of the Scottish martial art of "Hoots-Toot-ochaye." After twenty-five minutes of continuous laughter Mitchell finally slumped on the settee and died from heart failure. His widow later sent the Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell's final moments so pleasant.

Numerous

The Wikipedia entry on John Cusack (I just watched him as the villain in Never Grow Old, one of those modern Westerns that are grimy underlit horror-tragedy from start to finish) was apparently written by an experimental AI.

Gilbert Gottfried 1955-2022

I believe I first became aware of the above-mentioned, sadly departed king in his role as Art de Salvo on Duckman. Enjoy.

Construct

The mediated 'reality' of the campaign in legacy media is exposed as a construct. The 'story' is decided on day one and the facts are arranged to fit that narrative...

Meanwhile, the party spinners, many of whom are former journos, seek to reimpose a different narrative by micro-managing the coverage. This turns into a theatrical arms race as each side seeks to out-manoeuvre the other with no regard to the voters' interests

A brief tviit-strem from Mr Denmore.

Statues Attacking People

Every one a gem. Sad and Useless via Design You Trust.

This is where it starts

Hordes of bot accounts using clever dodging tactics are causing burnout among human censors, police investigative paper finds.

Authorities may respond by raising a counter-army of automated accounts or even an AI-driven public opinion leader.

Angry Line

No explanation of the La Linea reference here. Where's the attention to detail?