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George_E_Hale

insufferable blowhard

2 followers   follows 11 users  
joined 2022 September 04 19:24:43 UTC

The things you lean on / are things that don't last

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User ID: 107


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
George_E_Hale


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
insufferable blowhard

				
				
				

				

					2 followers  

					follows 11 users  

					joined 2022 September 04 19:24:43 UTC
				


				
					

					
The things you lean on / are things that don't last



				

				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
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				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's not the cat or even the dander you're allergic to. It's the protein Fel d 1 in the cat's saliva that is transferred to their fur/skin when they groom themselves. Some cat food companies claim to make a kibble that supposedly has anti Fel D 1 antibodies, creating hypoallergenic cats. I have no idea to what degree this works. This won't help with the shit removal or improve the conversation. (Though my black cat will talk to me if I cough.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This is the most Motte post I've read all week. It's also the first thread I've read so there's that.


I grew up with dogs, but mostly very well-trained dogs. I get your intolerance for dogs, or at least I get your intolerance for dogs that run amok. Dog people (a term I use loosely) often think if they have you over you'll be fine with the dog nuzzling up against you as you're trying to eat the bean burrito. Isn't Buster cute? Look he's hungry. There is also an unquestionable smell of dog in most every indoor dog house. Not necessarily feces, but definitely dog.


I do like dogs and I get that, too. Except most of the dogs in Japan, which I consider odd mutations of what may have once been noble strong breeds but are now tiny, yappy, dew-eyed over-coiffed and overdressed trip hazards. As in you'll trip over them.


We have cats now. Entire different animal type requiring an entirely different mindset. I won't belabor the obvious that everyone already knows when I write that.


I do get your impatience for dogs, though. Though yours is more a hatred and disgust. My own impatience is mostly for the owners. One of the many reasons I quit reddit was the fawning subculture of cat people who would post what they imagined were adorable videos of their cats innocently destroying some expensive tchothcke, or grabbing their McDonald's nugget or whatever embarrassing fast food they were eating, usually in bed. I would typically bite my tongue/typing fingers regarding their questionable hygiene, and instead post a benign "Train your animal, please" and be downvoted to kitty hell. Ok maybe once I said "WTF Train your fucking cat."


I feel as if you were in the wilderness or countryside and had a loyal dog you might change your mind. I could be wrong, though.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
There may be a tendency, in such reviews (and I know less about games I suspect than you even claim to know) is that we are captured/limited by our own experiences of the era. I received (and gave away) many mixtapes in the early nineties. You'd write clever titles on the sticker and click out the tab so it couldn't be accidentally erased. I received some really good ones that introduced me to music to which I wouldn't normally have been exposed. You used a pencil also if the tape was particularly stiff or tightly wound, for whatever reason. It wasn't cool. It was just something you did. I can't comment on how 90s teens would have acted as I was mid to late twenties in the 90s. I generally agree with your larger point that film and media people don't get eras right when it's trivially easy to triangulate actual human perspectives of people who lived through them. Don't get me started on how the South is represented (or southern accents).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for May 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Depersonalization though you've probably researched the phenomenon yourself. Again, interesting. Does this come and go even now or is it just a memory of how you used to be?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Makes sense. L’appétit vient en mangeant.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I feel like Mishima's particular form of narcissistic suicidal homosexuality would be difficult to percolate anywhere.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for May 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Very interesting. You're not quite what I would have predicted or imagined, and I'm not terrible at predicting/imagining, though of course I'm not Kreskin. You don't seem insane or sociopathic to me, except when you do, but then that's just Woman TM. Vive la difference. You got Sloot in here derailing the conversation so that's a point on the board for you. I'm sorry if my interest seemed untoward, but I am forever trying to print faces on the masks/usernames here.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for May 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've been mulling over this comment since I read it shortly after you posted yesterday. Like others, I have the impression that within your comment is a need, a plaintive statement of dissatisfaction, though most of what you write here suggests the opposite (that you're happy, though you immediately qualify the term.) Yet you do now wish and long have wished to not exist:




I've wanted to be dead (not the same as wanted to commit suicide, I've never tried that) since I was about eleven, but here it is decades and decades later and I'm still here.




Why? Not why are you still here but why would you wish to not be?


I didn't answer immediately because I'm certainly not a trained counselor or psychiatrist but I felt like I wanted to probe deeper into your motivations in posting this comment. I'm probably just as weird (to use your term) as anyone on here but with a more normie veneer. I too have little problem being alone most of the time. I've spent vast swaths of my life alone, and not in the "we're all really alone" sense but in the no one else anywhere near me sense. I'm not a stranger to it. But it can be a great weight. It's like anything, fine for as long as it's fine, but too much of it and you're asking for trouble. You sense this, though you're not giving voice to it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Your last sentence gave me pause. Are you suggesting the reason is the MMA sparring and resultant brain damage? It seems that it may be just as likely that violent sports often attract violent men, violent men act out this violence on whoever is closest, etc.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
A bit higher risk for older fathers than for older mothers, if I am not incorrect.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
In your second example (God help me for discussing this) the male has acted willfully to con/re strain the woman, thus his act can be considered rape, impairment or no. By me, I mean. I am certainly not a lawyer and cannot adjudicate this in any sort of legal sense in any jurisdiction. It wouldn't even matter if the restraint was violent. As long as she was unwilling, rape is the word. And importantly, he's human. He's acting on human impulses and has restrained her.


To answer your 1, yes that sounds about right. The human used the animal to violate/rape.


This is just my take but I honestly see it as the reasonable take. Change my view if you're (anyone) up for it. Or just let this discussion die.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Past five on a Friday is more typical.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's just my point though, calling it rape suggests a volition, a willful act against the consensual, as opposed to simply instinct.  A human can rape, because rape is a human act, defined within human terms. A dog (or whatever we're talking about) cannot be defined within those terms, even if the human is unwilling. Presumably a dog would only have sex with a human if coerced or duped. I guess. I don't particularly want to know. Even if it did make it with a human, it would not be rape as such, though it would be a violation, and certainly unseemly and profane, if we can use those terms.


This reminds me of a time around 20 years ago sitting in a local dive, a college bar devoid of college students, with a friend of mine, he was flipping through a magazine, one of many the owner had left at the bar, some biker/art/alternative magazine. On one page was a blonde Japanese woman showing a good deal of leg, walking what appeared to be a Pyrenees or Samoyed. I was an idiot and had been drinking and made a stupid joke: "Turn the page and she'll be fucking that dog."


He turned the page. I hadn't got it quite right, as the dog was humping her. Not her leg, if you understand my meaning. I never looked at that bar's magazines after that. Anyway they closed their big swinging door about a decade later.


You can disagree about the word rape here, it's fine, it's not something I care that deeply about, just my sense. I used to be annoyed at the reddit crowd when someone would remark on dolphins' mental capacity and the tendency to be protective of humans in open water, then to many thousands of upvotes someone would counter testily "Yeah but fuck dolphins, they're rapists." This seems the same kind of naïve misconstruing of animal behavior as the people who keep chimpanzees as pets and call them "part of the family".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 11, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Never imagined I'd be posting this on a Wednesday morning, but I think applying the word rape to animal behavior is unnecessarily anthropomorphic. A dog doesn't rape, it just goes with its instincts. Rape is a human term involving consent, etc.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Ir wouldn't be formally announced. China would keep Trump off camera and the CCP would make some statement that he was enjoying an extended visit in private.


Newsrooms around the world would privately celebrate their good fortune in covering the ongoing story.


A certain subset of the American public would begin "You can keep him" campaigns, probably with hats and T-shirts, etc. These would be all over TikTok. This in the vein of the tendency of many Americans to want to mash a self-destruct button.


Democratic politicians would make statements of feigned outrage beginning with "We disagree on everything, but.." Some would suggest peaceful negotiations.


The UN, after a long session , would make a solemn statement about how such behavior in China's part is unacceptable. Then do nothing.


Markets would go into freefall. Allies would mobilize for war with an unclear objective. Even more interesting times would ensue.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Tinker Tuesday for May 12th, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This is very interesting. My first reaction was doubt, if not scorn, but clicking on the link I see that when you say unabridged that's exactly what you mean. It's the full novel, not a graphic novel rendering with speech bubbles etc. Maybe that's what a visual novel actually is and I am just learning the term. I suppose for some nonreaders who prefer pictures instead of text alone this could draw them more into reading, regardless of the art style. This must be quite time-consuming!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Upvoted for word choice.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Read the four years ago, like many enjoyed the first most. Mishima--I tell someone I've read a good deal of Mishima--and they sit up, impressed. If I say I've read a dozen Murakami novels they shrug. What I have to then admit is that I read in translation, in English. Mishima's kanji and word choice is apparently miles away from Murakami's more accessible prose, and to read Mishima in Japanese suggests a strong command of the language. Like comparing say Thomas Pynchon and Stephen King as an English reader. I say all this not knowing if you're reading in Japanese, English, or German.


I am glad I read the books, though, without spoiling, I will say they did get weird. Then again Mishima was, by my reckoning, a pretty big nutter, and I use that term in the Commonwealth sense of "fucking nuts." I do enjoy much of his writing though. I recently lent a friend a copy of Ai no kawaki or Thirst for Love and I believe his response was "Wtf did I just read?"


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You're not wrong, but I will admit slight surprise that anyone is only now, in this particular news cycle, realizing this. I've had nearly a verbatim thought for, oh, twenty years or so now.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 10, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The Coming Plague, well before 2014 (early 90s?) certainly made it sound feasible. That was an interesting book. The girl I was seeing at the time (then yet-to-be-a-med-student, now a fairly reputable doctor) used to go on and on about it. I think pandemics or their possibility are what got her into medicine, though apparently she's not now an epidemiologist. Edit: Nevermind


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I wouldn't worry about it. To be clear, you do seem perfectly mannered in our interactions. It's like a kid (I'm the kid in this scenario) listening to the grownups talk at the dinner table, and noticing uncle Balasubramanian tends to talk down to those who argue with him. You think, "I think I'll avoid that." But he does tell good stories!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Look dude. I'll say it again, that's just the way I talk. There is no malice behind it, at worst it's a textual tic or an expression of mild exasperation. If you find it that unbearable, well, that's a shame. Take care.




I personally find your riffing and attempts at humor at the expense of your interlocutor (and/or his/her views) off-putting, and generally I avoid interacting with you for this reason. This is just a data point for you, of course you're free to act however you like. (Even here I expect some sort of snarky "Thanks for the permission" retort, when that is not the tack I'm intending. If I generally posted in a way that caused others to react badly I'd want to know.) Even here, you seem to apologize, then think better of it and your last two sentences are basically a fuck off. It's very un-Motte, though rests in the plausible deniability "Whatever do you mean?" territory.


But I'm a fucking Quokka, to use a Motte-term, so there's that.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
As I have written here before, I think your takes are often insightful, if bitter pills. I also think your generalizations are probably too wide and confined to a subset of hot/mildly damaged women (all of us, men and women, are at least mildly damaged) and that your ability to calibrate/"read the vibes" isn't a particularly transferable skill. I also think what she wants and what is good (healthy if you prefer) for her (to say nothing of what is good for me/a man) are often not the same. In other words maybe in her secret garden she has a nice rape fantasy planted; that doesn't mean that I do, or that I'm interested at all in accommodating her.


I've been married 20+ years, I'm under no illusion that women are necessarily wonderful, but I'm also convinced that we're fundamentally different (male and female) well beyond simply plumbing, and that one aspect of our role as men is to be protective. I wouldn't want to indulge some girl's getting off on her own self-loathing any more than I'd want her exacerbating, for sexual kicks, my own (to what degree any self-loathing remains after 50 years of systematically eradicating it).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Probably, though associated mostly with a mom who closely curates schoolwork, what schools to apply for, study time, juku or cram schools, etc. I understand the Amy Chua version as much more all-encompassing (i.e. never allow your child unstructured free time, period.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for May 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Also I'd argue kyōiku mama is not particularly derogatory but descriptive. Kyōiku simply means education. There are other terms like onibaba that refer to more fierce and literally demon-hags that nag their children about xyz. A woman might even describe herself as a kyōiku mama though no woman would describe herself as onibaba.


But this may have been added by a Japanese person with a different view.


edit: A lesbian friend of mine once said the term woman was often meant derogatorily. As in "That woman said..." This was only a few years after Bill Clinton's denials about sexual relations with Monica, so maybe that's what she was thinking of. I didn't ask what term she'd prefer.