Flutterby™!

I'm not saying standards have slipped during the pandemic, but I'm about to get brownie batter all over my face

12 rep to failure doesn't seem bad until the third circuit. These words are there to remind us that we can get through it. And yeah, we're aware that "BLAA" is part of that last lift.

Back in the '90s I loved the "Mind's Eye" compilations of computer graphics stuff, and that interest got me into building renderers and real-time stuff, and eventually sent me through a few years at Pixar, but that whole sense of surrealism was part of what appealed. In that sense, I really enjoyed Black Sheep Films' Anywhere Can Happen, kind of a look at what modern surrealist computer graphics is up to.

Excusing the racism as a "product of his time" discounts the efforts of all of those who try to engage in lifelong learning and improvement, usually without the huge privilege. Greek Immigrant Who Lived Off Welfare Dies In England

Found: Page 25 of the CIA’s Gateway Report on Astral Projection, a wonderful journey through the '70s, the human improvement movement, and contorting theories in physics to try to match perceptions.

Injuries and deaths due to firearms in the home DOI:10.1097/00005373-199808000-00010

Results: During the study interval (12 months in Memphis, 18 months in Seattle, and Galveston) 626 shootings occurred in or around a residence. This total included 54 unintentional shootings, 118 attempted or completed suicides, and 438 assaults/homicides. Thirteen shootings were legally justifiable or an act of self-defense, including three that involved law enforcement officers acting in the line of duty. For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.

Mood: no one really @PoppyDare

Extroverts are suffering with isolation but I'm basically feral now. If I have to be around people again they'll need to lure me with treats. #introvertproblems #Imightbite

People getting killed or maimed as a result of gender reveal parties has become so common-place that I've stopped taking note of it, but here's another case where gender is dangerous: Airline software super-bug: Flight loads miscalculated because women using 'Miss' were treated as children

The error occurred, according to a report [PDF] released on Thursday by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), because the check-in software treated travelers identified as "Miss" in the passenger list as children, and assigned them a weight of 35 kg (~77 lbs) instead of 69 kg (~152 lbs) for an adult.

The AAIB report attributes the error to cultural differences in how the term Miss is understood.

Retracting headboard, with video https://youtu.be/lCfCyogVDdY

PsyPost: Studies provide new insights into possible psychological mechanisms underlying interest in BDSM

The study, “The Psychology of Kink: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study Investigating the Roles of Sensation Seeking and Coping Style in BDSM-Related Interests“, was authored by Alana Schuerwegen, Wim Huys, Violette Coppens, Nele De Neef, Josée Henckens, Kris Goethals, and Manuel Morrens.

The study, “The Psychology of Kink: a Survey Study into the Relationships of Trauma and Attachment Style with BDSM Interests“, was authored by ‪Stephan Ten Brink, Violette Coppens, Wim Huys, and Manuel Morrens

Bwahahaha! The Mary Sue: Jordan Peterson Is Angry That He Inspired Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Take on Red Skull and We Have To Laugh — Have you tried...not being a nazi?

Portland's Current Cop Accountability System is Failing, DOJ Finds

In a March 23 letter sent to the City of Portland, DOJ attorneys list recent examples of the city's Police Review Board (PRB) relying on erroneous information, provided by Portland Police Bureau (PPB) leaders, to determine whether or not an officer acted in violation of PPB policy.

I think we need to do a Delta day trip: Dutra Museum of Dredging

(And, of course, the Western Railway Museum)

If you had any doubts at all about the whole anti-trans/concern over trans kids in sports thing was just an attempt by troglodytes to enforce gender sterotypes, this should put the nail in that coffin: Soccer tournament bans 8-year-old girl’s entire team because she ‘looks like a boy’

A lot of people are starting to realize that even though most stock picking is just gambling, index funds are a different sort of centrally planned economy: Could Index Funds Be ‘Worse Than Marxism’?

With index funds, nobody’s behind the scenes, dumping bad investments and selecting good ones. Nobody’s making a bet on shorting Tesla or going long on Apple. Nobody’s hedging Europe and plowing money into Vietnam. Nobody is doing much of anything at all. These funds are “passively managed,” in investor-speak. They generally buy and sell stocks when those stocks enter or exit indices, such as the S&P 500, and size their holdings according to metrics such as market value. Index funds mirror the market, in other words, rather than trying to pick winners and losers within it.

Even ignoring the large centralized economy issues, there's the fact that this trend also creates small more volatile side-markets. the MeFi thread has a lot more good links and comments...

This is kinda fascinating: Dr Jen Gunter — Vajenda: How Birth Control Pills Treat Acne

YouTube recommendation algorithm showed me a "Remember One Direction?" video. Fuck you, YouTube. I remember New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys, and get the fuck off my lawn.

From Shadow: IvanMakes: A better way to do kerf bending, using a 4.5° router bit and steamed ash. I'm not quite sure how to set the router height from this video, but I really like the results.

If gender is determined by genitals, this kid is more boy than any other human: International Journal of Surgery Case Reports: Triphallia (triple penis), the first reported case in human

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijscr.2020.11.008

Holy crap the price of lumber! And, I was suffering from sticker shock in Friedman's and checked online prices, and drove to Lowe's, still about twice what I expected to pay, but like 2/3rds of Friedman's prices.

Melissa Febos in the New York Times Magazine — I Spent My Life Consenting to Touch I Didn’t Want

A year of isolation made me consider all the casual, unwanted touch women endure — and why it’s so hard to refuse it.

Woohoo! First dose (Pfizer) acquired, via trek to Healdsburg.

Ancient phallus unearthed in cave

The 20cm-long, 3cm-wide stone object, which is dated to be about 28,000 years old, was buried in the famous Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm in the Swabian Jura.

and

"Female representations with highly accentuated sexual attributes are very well documented at many sites, but male representations are very, very rare," explained Professor Conard

I know I'm a nerd when I'm reading a Space Opera and there's a throwaway line mentioning farads, amps and volts, and I'm immediately driven to figure out the time...

TEDx: Kate Lister: an honest history of an ancient and nasty word:

With candor and cunning, sex historian Kate Lister chronicles the curious journey of an ancient, honest word with innocent origins and a now-scandalous connotation in this uproarious love letter to etymology, queens, cows and all things "cunt."

Right now I'm around 9:30 where she's talking about all of Shakespeare's "cunt" puns.