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Nihil Concierge

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Nihil Concierge

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 05 19:44:52 UTC
				


				
					

					
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	 Bump Top Bottom New Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 8, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I lived in Japan from '07 to '11 and haven't been back since, so this may be out of date, but the idea that fruit and veggies are very expensive matches my memories, but is a little incomplete.  Sushi and ramen are incredibly cheap in Japan, and I would extrapolate that most of the food-service labor force is somehow attached to those two parts of the industry--sushi because Japan just plain has the best fish, ramen because that's usually served with beer or on a chuhai run.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				The Motte: A Working Glossary
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This may warrant a ban, and I've generally lurked to avoid breaking the low-effort rule, but...


Damn it, I just can't help myself: those quokka pictures are the most adorable things I've ever seen!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for January 12, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Every time I tell someone I am part of the Veterans Affairs health care system in the United States,  I use the joke "I protected you from socialized health care, so now I get...socialized health care."


It has never failed to get a laugh.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				My Clients, The Liars
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
John, an old friend if mine, once answered the door for a bill collector who asked him, "are you John Doe?" He claims he replied, "My name is Bruce Wayne."


While wearing a Batman tee shirt.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Transnational Thursday for January 25, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
According to Reuters, Turkey got permission to buy F-16s in exchange for allowing Sweden to join NATO: “Ankara's delays had frustrated some of its Western allies and enabled it to extract some concessions. But Flake, who was envoy throughout the process, said Sweden addressed Turkey's "very legitimate security needs" in that time.”


https://archive.is/iMYgT#selection-1903.0-1926.0


I totally understand why things shook out this way--but I also think this will be interpreted, in Russian foreign policy circles, as evidence that some of the stuff Putin has been saying about NATO being a threat, is true.  After all, this is letting a border country join NATO in exchange for selling fighter jets to yet another border country...there's a reason Russians think NATO is threatening their borders.


Sigh.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Transnational Thursdays 29
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Being a sailor myself, it pains me to admit that the most plausible explanation is that the skipper of the Newnew Polar Bear did, surely, understand something was wrong--but hoped it was no big deal, and no one would notice.  In fact, finding an anchor that was dragged for nearly 200 klicks on the floor, just "a few meters" from the damaged cables and gas lines makes it just to easy for me to know exactly what a Newnew Polar Bear sailor felt like after two or three hours on the deck crew trying to get the anchor hauled up when the XO shouts over the 1MC, "Fuck the anchor, we're about to hit an seabed pipeline--cut the chain NOW!"


They almost made it.


So much for the Skipper's dream of commanding the more prestigious ship, Oldold Polar Bear.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 8, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well, they're perfectionists in Lebanon.  The leader of the HRC doesn't walk around with an internal monolog that asks "boy, I've never fought a battle with the NRA, let's check that off the list."  Maybe he should.  I hear the ACLU used to think that way, and possibly still does.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 16, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Oh, goodness, I was so busy trying to being clever I forgot to be smart.


I am honestly embarrassed about this.  Mea Maxima Culpa.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 27, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Lawyers actually have to ask permission from the judge to do that.  If I'm recalling Ken White's podcast, that's really an area that has more to do with drug dealers or gangsters as clients--or if a lawyer is absolutely broke and leaving the profession or something.


"My client is stupid" isn't really something that American lawyers abandon clients for, or get surprised by--it's on the rare occasion a smart person needs representation that something is up


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Violent Class: A day in the life
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You said something about being able to write not having done you any good in your last post, but I don't see it.  You're a couple ex-wives who are smarter than you away from being Hemingway


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 8, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Oh, my goodness, you have got to read Cadillac Desert, a book about water that is one of my all-time classics.  I wish I were more motivated to do good, solid, effort posts, because a review of that book could really work...


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 16, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Mendacity and social fictions are not unique to Californians. Perhaps I've just been exceedingly unlucky in my acquaintances, and I'm suffering a Chinese Robber effect. But this pattern has repeated with enough frequency that I’ll tentatively call it a cultural difference.




Actually, when I moved to a midsize southern Californian port city in 2018, it was explained to me that the punishment for mendacity and social friction would be a one-way ticket to ...  well, let's just say that the VHS tape I was given was of a once-great local news anchor named after a wine explaining that Californians accused of things like financial crimes, harassment, or petty theft might well be offered plea deals that include "a one-way ticket to Cajun country in lieu of jail time."




They're like the younger sons of European nobility who colonized the New World.




Don't forget the workers they brought with them: criminals who chose to labor as their farmhands over the noose; and others, in harder-to-fill positions, filled only after the "no thanks, I'll hang," phase of the recruitment flow was removed.


Also don't forget the religious whackjobs who just refused to let the King tell them who to burn at the stake.


Oh, and don't forget the squatters who broke into William Penn's summer estate.


Who would have ever thought that those three groups had enough in common to actually team up against their Monarch--let alone that they'd get help from Manhattan.  You'd think people would be grateful to be liberated from being Dutch!


Oh, and Maine.  Have I forgotten why the people in Maine joined the other twelve colonies--or did they keep their reasons to themselves?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 16, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I drove through Idaho with my dad on the way to a week in Seattle with relations.  We had a very pleasant breakfast at a Denny's near the Oregon border; we'd probably still have no problems in Ida-White (what else could you name it?), as I doubt our very nice waitress recognized an old Jew when she saw one — because anyone who looks at my dad has seen one!


But what if the Parliament of Idawhite passed a law adding a couple of episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm to the elementary school curriculum? My dad has been confused with Larry David.


What about black drivers? My old roommate is now an adjunct professor at Portland State University, and between the job interview and the move, that's three times a black lesbian has driven past the exact same Denny's—and we have yet to ask anyone in thar demographic lucky enough not to share a lease with me about any omelettes they've ordered whilst en route to the Pacific Northwest.


What happens, if we give Idaho to the white nationalists, when the rest of us want to drive to Seattle? Are we just expected to not have a Grand Slam?


ETA: You could also name it Ida-Cracker.  Obviously.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for November 24, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'd like to second this from @roystgnr :




Comic strip collections ... let young readers who aren't 100% solid manage to grasp more context from the drawings.




I got started with reading on "Calvin & Hobbs," one of the all time greats. I'm not sure if Spaceman Spiff is still relevant, but I know the stuff about ethical philosophy and girls being gross is timeless.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 18, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Personally, I think both options are death.




The list of options that are not death, when looking beyond the short-term, is, in fact, blank.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of July 24, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I would take a collection of loud noises and leave them on the front lawn overnight until they had been lightly coated in condensation.  Then I would systematically organize the documents using these dewey decibels.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 23, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
My favorite Clinton anecdote is from TNR or maybe the New Yorker a while back. Doctor said, “Bill Clinton loves to talk; a friend of mine once got chance to meet him when they were both in the locker room of a racquetball club in Manhattan, and enjoyed the first hour of the conversation, but ended up faking a phone call from his wife as an excuse to prevent the chat from entering hour three.”


I suspect the surviving Bush and Obama might both do the same thing—just imagine being the top 0.001% for ambition and extroversion, with decades of life left, and every single job in America would be an embarrassing step down.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 20, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I am in deep, passionate, unrelenting agreement with your indifference.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 16, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I used the website below, which gets data from the census bureau, to see how much of California was white in 1975.  87.6%--because the 1975 data does not include Hispanic as a category.


https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/population-and-demographics/our-changing-population/state/california/?endDate=2021-01-01&startDate=1975-01-01


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 27, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I love uBlock Origin.  Learning how that extension work made my web-browsing so many times easier!


The only sites on my whitelist are my bank, Substack and the Motte.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				World Series 2023 Megathread
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Because that's what someone with much more well-adjusted family relationships and emotional communication skills than either of us would do.


My family was about...other things.  Like reading at a 11th grade level before you turned 9, or not talking about your feelings, or winning state debate tournaments, or not talking about your feelings.  Sometimes, for a break, we didn't talk about our feelings.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Transnational Thursday for January 18, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


This latest episode of Iran just kind of attacking all its neighbors is pretty uncharacteristic at least.




I dunno—isn't Iran attacking it's neighbors something Leonidas would be familiar with?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for January 19, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I recently got hooked on a fun discord server. I'd never really used the app before but I'm enjoying it a great deal.


What other Discords do Mottezians enjoy ?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 9, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


As academia has become less of a walled garden, and more of a finishing school for half the populace, it has lost the functional ability to question seriously the deep truths of our society.




When was academia a walled garden?  In the United States, at least, I believe it's more accurate to describe the history of higher education as going from, in the early seventeenth century, a finishing school for slightly less than a tenth of the population to, in the early twenty-first century, a finishing school for slightly more than a third of the population.


Were the philosophers Alex Byrne and @naraburns admire respected academics? How many were philosophy professors? And how many American philosophy professors were the sort of philosophers worth admiring.  Certainly I'd argue that there is a "default major" throughout American history, one that allows a student to attain their letters with as little thinking as possible--and that in the 1680s that would be theology; today gender studies--and it's to philosophy's credit it was never that degree.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 22, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I just blew through The Big Short in a day and a half.  It is, Peter Segal observed, a most unusual book because adapting it into a movie didn't mean making changes to make things more exciting or dramatic—but several things that really happen did have to be toned down!