Random Thoughts X: Impromptu Interpretations

[EnglishEdward]

Hence the mob with torches and pitchforks that pretends to be the UK government.

At the moment, they are being waived at the Chinese government.

The question is, does the Chinese government have a sense of humour?

 

[The_J]

I forgot if I already rambled about this here, but it still annoys me: I can sleep

• In the car
• Bus
• Train
• Air plane
• During meetings
• In conferences

I can not sleep:

• In my bed, while lying on my back. I always sleep like a distorted bretzel, and it does not work otherwise.

What's wrong with me?

 

[AmazonQueen]

I forgot if I already rambled about this here, but it still annoys me: I can sleep

• In the car
• Bus
• Train
• Air plane
• During meetings
• In conferences

I can not sleep:

• In my bed, while lying on my back. I always sleep like a distorted bretzel, and it does not work otherwise.

What's wrong with me?

Don't know but its better than not being able to sleep well anywhere at anytime.

More importantly I was disappointed to discover that bretzel is what some Europeans call pretzels and not a Europhobic pretzel.

 

[W|M]

I forgot if I already rambled about this here, but it still annoys me: I can sleep

• In the car
• Bus
• Train
• Air plane
• During meetings
• In conferences

I can not sleep:

• In my bed, while lying on my back. I always sleep like a distorted bretzel, and it does not work otherwise.

What's wrong with me?

try sleeping somewhere other than your bed for a few days

 

[Zkribbler]

The question is, does the Chinese government have a sense of humour?

Not according to Winnie the Pooh.

Spoiler Winnie the Pooh song :

Christopher Robin and I walked along
Under light from a bright Chinese moon
Looking for Pooh over hill, over dale.
Silly bear disappeared around noon.
His hunny pot’s gone. Could he be gone for good?
Or will he find his way back to the wood?

So help me if you can, I've got to find
Tigger and Eeyore and Piglet and Pooh
Christopher Robin, there’s so much they must do:
Chase all the dark clouds away,
Teach all the children to play
The glorious days of Christopher Robin and Pooh

President Xi is as mad as can be.
His resemblance to Pooh, all can see.
It’s a vision of warmth, love and good will to all,
It’s not what a tyrant should be.
So, off with Pooh’s head from all internet sites.
Paranoia again stomps on our childish delights.

So help Xi if you can, he’s got to get
Rid of all joy, jubilation, and fun.
You'd be surprised there's so much to be done:
Stamp out free speech and thought,
Jail those who cannot be bought,
Back to the days of the Red doctrinaire,
Back to the days of Tiananmen Square,
These are the day of Xi.
Oh no, oh me!
Xi, Xi, Xi.

 

[Traitorfish]

A thought on "cancel culture" it's occurred to me that most of the demands made by participants of "cancel culture" are essentially demands for corporations and public bodies to make what would traditionally be seen as PR moves: drops certain spokespeople, distance themselves from certain imagery, disassociate themselves from other institutions. These are actions which, until a few years ago, would have initiated within public relations departments and have been intended to diffuse a public response by taking preemptive measures. And moreover, they were usually taken to avoid the organisation having to make any really substantive reforms; making small changes so that nothing would really change.

Now, these actions are initiated within a defuse mass of mostly online voices, and represent the very public response which these actions were traditionally intended to preempt, and are framed by their advocates as representing the sort of real, structural change they were traditionally intended to avoid.

Two options present themselves. The first is that the people making these demands are aware of this, and that they call for these sorts of responses because they are the sort of thing a company might do anyway. They are achievable, and so give a certain kind of professional advocate a number of easy wins on their resume. There is an implicit bargain struck between these advocates and the organisations they address to pretend that this is real, structural change, because that fiction makes them both look better.

The second is that they are not aware of this, and that they call for these sorts of responses because they have so internalised the logic of elite public relations that they think this is what accountability looks like. They make these demands because they accept implicitly that these are the correct and necessary demands for the circumstances; they frame this as real, structural change because they sincerely believe that this is what such change looks like.

I imagine that some professional advocates are aware of and comfortable of their role as a cog in the machinery of elite PR. But a lot of people online seem to have genuinely internalised this stuff, to have convinced themselves that doing the work of corporate PR departments for them is what politics looks like.

For anybody who believes in democracy, this should be troubling.

 

[The_J]

try sleeping somewhere other than your bed for a few days

Other bed or other anything?

 

[EgonSpengler]

I forgot if I already rambled about this here, but it still annoys me: I can sleep

• In the car
• Bus
• Train
• Air plane
• During meetings
• In conferences

I can not sleep:

• In my bed, while lying on my back. I always sleep like a distorted bretzel, and it does not work otherwise.

What's wrong with me?

Just glancing at that list of places you can fall asleep, it seems like one thing they all share is a lot of indistinct background noise, a hum or a drone.

 

[The_J]

I sleep in my bed with ear plugs, otherwise my normal sleeping position doesn't work well either .
(Also a tooth protector and a sleeping mask; i feel like a cripple when I go to bed lol).

 

[W|M]

Other bed or other anything?

another bed, couch, chair, floor; anything works really

 

[The_J]

I've been the last 2 days in hotels, and traveled a bit before... normally it's still the same.

This doesn't need a “solution“ in any way though, just wanted to let it out somewhere.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I sleep in my bed with ear plugs, otherwise my normal sleeping position doesn't work well either .
(Also a tooth protector and a sleeping mask; i feel like a cripple when I go to bed lol).

My wife needs a white noise machine. It apparently keeps stray noises from being a bother. I just ignore it.

 

[Takhisis]

At the moment, they are being waived at the Chinese government.

Interesting spelling.

A thought on "cancel culture" it's occurred to me that most of the demands made by participants of "cancel culture" are essentially demands for corporations and public bodies to make what would traditionally be seen as PR moves: drops certain spokespeople, distance themselves from certain imagery, disassociate themselves from other institutions. These are actions which, until a few years ago, would have initiated within public relations departments and have been intended to diffuse a public response by taking preemptive measures. And moreover, they were usually taken to avoid the organisation having to make any really substantive reforms; making small changes so that nothing would really change.

Now, these actions are initiated within a defuse mass of mostly online voices, and represent the very public response which these actions were traditionally intended to preempt, and are framed by their advocates as representing the sort of real, structural change they were traditionally intended to avoid.

Two options present themselves. The first is that the people making these demands are aware of this, and that they call for these sorts of responses because they are the sort of thing a company might do anyway. They are achievable, and so give a certain kind of professional advocate a number of easy wins on their resume. There is an implicit bargain struck between these advocates and the organisations they address to pretend that this is real, structural change, because that fiction makes them both look better.

The second is that they are not aware of this, and that they call for these sorts of responses because they have so internalised the logic of elite public relations that they think this is what accountability looks like. They make these demands because they accept implicitly that these are the correct and necessary demands for the circumstances; they frame this as real, structural change because they sincerely believe that this is what such change looks like.

I imagine that some professional advocates are aware of and comfortable of their role as a cog in the machinery of elite PR. But a lot of people online seem to have genuinely internalised this stuff, to have convinced themselves that doing the work of corporate PR departments for them is what politics looks like.

For anybody who believes in democracy, this should be troubling.

In the game of mafia over at Mafia Universe the word ‘lynch’ which denotes the town selecting one person to be killed under an accusation that isn't proven and sometimes cannot be until the game is over has been changed because it is offensive, even if it is exactly what the players are supposed to be doing in the game, in character.

 

[Ferocitus]

Can all felines curl their tongues like this tiger cat? Can all tiger cats?

 

[Birdjaguar]

I saw a lion video where he curled his tongue.

 

[amadeus]

Is Ellen Degeneres tuning into John Mahoney or is it just me?

 

[Snerk]

Why are pets only capable at sustaining injuries out of normal vet opening hours?

 

[Takhisis]

Why are pets only capable at sustaining injuries out of normal vet opening hours?

Life is a game and this is fake difficulty.

 

[AdamCrock]

Life is a game and this is fake difficulty.

It is a mystery of life.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Why are pets only capable at sustaining injuries out of normal vet opening hours?

They have learned that with injury during such hours they get more of your attention than your phone.