Interesting new World Wide Web plaything for radio!

Taizz, Yemen might not be your first choice, but the point is, you have options.

From Bontang, Indonesia, it's the hot hits on Mujahidin FM 105.8!

(India has gone absolutely APE for autotune.)

Anatomically modern humans mastered fire about 125,000 years ago. I'm sure one day Antifa will figure it out.

This is the same incident I posted about yesterday, where a Molotov cocktail set an Antifa member's shoes on fire, but from a different angle.

The way he's dancing reminds of those Skip-it toys that used to be popular.

There is a reason I bring this up again. See my next post.

Some of the denizens of Twitter have been setting these videos to other music. I've heard a couple of them set to "Yakety Sax." (Contrary to popular belief, the name of the song is "Yakety Sax," not "The Benny Hill Theme.")

I've also heard "Goodness Gracious! Great Balls of Fire!"

But this is my personal favorite.

> Gender of parents

David Deeble joke—

When I was little, parents had to want until a kid was born to know what the gender was.

Nowadays, they have to wait until the kid's 21.

Some of the denizens of Twitter have been setting these videos to other music. I've heard a couple of them set to "Yakety Sax." (Contrary to popular belief, the name of the song is "Yakety Sax," not "The Benny Hill Theme.")

I've also heard "Goodness Gracious! Great Balls of Fire!"

But this is my personal favorite.

Batman has tested positive for Covid-19. So, I guess the pandemic has come full circle, as far as bats are concerned.

I don't wish harm on Pattinson, but I would take any of the previous versions over him. Though Val Kilmer would be Fatman these days.

Some suspect this photo is satirical, but it COULD easily be serious.

https://old.reddit.com/r/niceguys/comments/in6m5v/please_maam_spare_me_some_coochie_i_deserve_it/

And, as many have pointed out, if sex-as-payment is merely the "honorable" thing to do for a friend who does you a favor, would this man feel the same way if male friends called him "selfish" or "terrible" for refusing to have sex with THEM?

Dammit, this guy is going to be taught some humility.

Donald Trump an environmentalist?

Politico reports on "the one green thing" Donald Trump has done, energizing the EPA's Super Fund clean up efforts.

There's a mix of replies, some are about people talking how terrible prostate cancer can be and then there's the usual
What do you mean only men have prostates?! Transphobia! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

https://mobile.twitter.com/ProstateUK/status/1302708730023366661

What do you mean only men have prostates?! Transphobia! ~ Sixclaws at September 7, 2020 9:29 AM

Which begs the question, are we being realistic about gender, or are we just enabling a psychosis?

If children are being raised tran-gendered from childhood, are they getting the proper information about taking care of their adult health?

How can you have a gender reveal party when the biological entity you have expelled from the breeding chamber (IIRC patriarchal misogynists used to call it a "womb") hasn't yet chosen its pronouns?

Shame on the hufarmers! Shame! Shame!

Uggh. Just makes me want to hurl up this blue plankton and kale smoothie and go eat bacon.

Speaking of such parties, Gog, have we all heard of that party, east of Los Angeles, that started one of the major fires there, Saturday?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/california-wildfire-started-by-pyrotechnic-device-at-gender-reveal-party/ar-BB18Mb6X?li=BBnbcA1

7,000 acres so far.

Oops. Sorry. Somehow, I'd forgotten that Amy posted that already.

In the meantime, regarding Crid's link, the philosophy professor at Tayor University (Christian), according to some quick googling, is a conservative who, among others, believes the university is getting too liberal.

I didn't read all the lyrics. However, aside from the chance that he wouldn't have been fired had he simply played a recording of Avenue Q's "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" instead, his message seemed to be "if there is no God, why be good?"

Which reminds me of a couple of H.L. Mencken sayings.

"People say we need religion when what they really mean is we need police."

And (maybe not verbatim):

"Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone may be looking."

Or, as Einstein said:

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."

Wasn't Einstein paraphrasing a conversation from the Bible:

God: "Sorry, Lot."

Lot: *Indeed.*

Probably should take that with a grain of salt, though.

Conan: Which begs the question,...

It's "raises the question," not "begs the question."

Begging the question is a logical fallacy in which the conclusion of the argument is assumed by the premises, rather than being supported by them.

It's "raises the question," not "begs the question." ~ Patrick at September 8, 2020 12:41 AM

Indeed, Patrick. One of the perils of composing at the keyboard without a period of review; I knew as soon as I typed it that I needed to change it, but simply forgot and hit SUBMIT too soon.

Of course, I could cite modern usage in which "begs the question" if often used instead of the proper "raises the question," but I could hardly consider myself a defender of the language if I fell back on such a flimsy excuse.

I could even cite Time, The Economist, or even the once-illustrious New York Times in those esteemed publications' own usage of "begs the question" to mean "raises the question. I could use Merriam Webster to bolster such defense, since MW has decayed from defender of the language to enabler of its corruption.

I won't. I'll simply acknowledge my mistake and move on, properly chastened and humbled in my fall from Olympus.

I know what you mean, Conan. Just because something has fallen into common usage, it doesn't make it correct. It just means that the uninformed keep repeating the mistake.

I will never accept "irregardless!" Never, I tell you!

My kid is annoyed that big is only three letters while little is six. Now that they are learning to read I have to talk about all kinds of things in the English language that don't quite work. And then I have to deal with how 'you are but paper.' is different than 'you are butt paper.' That one has become a multiday running gag. Yay.

I will never accept "irregardless!" Never, I tell you! ~ Patrick at September 8, 2020 7:43 AM

When I was a project manager, I had a team lead who used "irregardless" frequently. Like nails on a chalkboard.

The problem is that hearing someone else misuse the language can rub off on you. You become anesthetized to it and even find yourself using it on more frequent occasions.

Funny thing, I had jury duty with her ten years later. I got picked as an alternate and she didn't even have to endure voir dire. Arrgh!

Speaking of adults who should know better when it comes to bad English (or at least keep their emotions under control and ACT like adults when proved wrong), remember this thread? Hint: it involves the word "hamster." Sort of.

http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2019/07/helicopter-cras.html

Btw, I heard once that the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves is overrated, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth reading.

And speaking of punctuation...

There was a fictional 13-year-old - snobbish but lazy - who complained that having to learn proper punctuation stifled her creativity, and besides, "that's what copy editors are for."

Until, that is, she was shown how punctuation can completely change the meaning of a sentence.

Ten amusing examples:

https://digitalsynopsis.com/tools/punctuation-marks-importance-rules-usage/

Which is not to say that English isn't frustrating, even as a first language. As it's been pointed out, according to the rules, one COULD spell "fish" as "ghoti." (Apparently, it wasn't G.B. Shaw who said that.)

To find more on that, search for Ben Zimmer's 2010 article, titled "Ghoti," for the NYT.

Here you go Patrick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StJ-OK4jiSY