The post gives me the opportunity to share the quote I like to trot out every time some blatant injustice is being committed, particularly in Texas. It's a quote from the attorney who successfully persuaded the high court to overturn Randal Adams' conviction as captured in the award winning (and totally excellent documentary) "The Thin Blue Line".
Long time fan. Once met Teller in line for a movie at the then-new Tower City center cinemas in Cleveland. Yes, he spoke.
Penn Gillette's worldview has always fit lock and key with my brothers somewhat obnoxious take on human existence. Perhaps My brother's most prized non-firearm possession is the trick and prank book Penn published when we were kids. in addition to step-by-step instructions for the old cons, which still work, there are pages that you photocopy and submit when some innocent person asks you to contribute to a community recipe book at a club or church or whatever. The recipes are designed to lead to kitchen disasters, such as frothing cake batter caused by directly mixing baking soda and vinegar.
There were limits as I recall. The book highly praised, but did not include the instructions to build, a device that used high voltage electricity and a metal probe to turn a whole kosher pickle into a plasma lamp that glowed green.
Baconz thinks of a line from Hamlet: "I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a hand saw."
Trump:
"The wind is northerly by southeast. and they know not a hand saw from and from a dove. I promise to you my endearing friends....I WILL BE FUCKING INSANE!!!!"
It is not true that the brain records experiences like a camera or tape recorder so that you can later 'play them back' fully and accurately. Memory is a construction that different parts of the brain collaborate on. Most of the time it is pretty accurate. Occassionaly, based on certain factors, it is completely wrong. At it does not have to be a trauma that distorts of suppressed the memory. It could just be you a jet lagged.
THis happened to me. I was in Taiwan for 3 weeks for work. The first weekend I wanted to walk around Taipei and look for a shop that I knew about that sold Tibetan art. I walked by a big octagonal governement buiding with big windows and set at the center of a big field with 8 walkways. I never did find the Tibetan shop but I had a great lunch.
When I rode back to my hotel in the shuttle we drove right past the tibetan shop so I determined I would come back the next weekend to go there. Somewhere along the way, in the hour it took to return to my work city, the two memories merged without my being aware of it so I had an image of that big octagonal building with large TIbetan style paintings in each window and since I knew where it was I figured it would be easy to return there.
When I returned the next week I was surprised to see that the 'shop' had changed/closed and there were no paintings anywhere. It was now a government building. It was surprising to have such a clear demonstration of the fallibility of memory.
You steered us to helping save Marcellus Williams in Missouri. Is there a chance Texas will follow suit? Because damn, this is just as horrifying, if not more so.
I dunno. It SOUNDS weird, but lyrically, "My Pal Foot Foot" makes sense once you understand that Foot Foot is a cat.
But it does sound weird. The Shaggs had the requisite 10,000+ hours of practice that it is said is necessary to make one an expert on any skill...but they had no training and about as much experience of actual Earthling music as a Martian would. There are people who study The Shaggs's catalog as an example of truly organic, sui generis music.
Anyway, since Prof can only play short clips, here's "My Pal Foot Foot" in its uncut glory.
Yeah, I've heard that, too. The father, mostly, he raised them alone after their mother died. In fact, her death was a part of the "prophecy" that led to him forcing them to become a band.
It's one reason why I won't join in about any hee-hawing about how "awful" they were. First of all, they were victims of their father's lunatic obsession. Second, I'm not sure they actually were "bad," considering that they had to invent almost everything they learned about music, themselves.
I asked a fellow Wonker (a good friend and spouse), as a simi-joke, "how much does that roof weigh and how quickly can it be retracted in that ball field in Arizona?" I got an answer.
When I was a teen, I went to a hypnosis demonstration in a tent at the county fair.
The hypnotist got another kid as a volunteer to show how post-hypnotic suggestion worked. He put the kid under and told him when he said a certain word, the kid was to know that a huge flood was imminent and the whole place had to be evacuated immediately.
So the kid's excused and the hypnotist is doing his routine and he utters the word, whereupon the kid runs up on stage, hysterical, frantically warning everyone about the flood, to the raucus laughter of the audience.
I saw the kid outside, after, crying with rage and embarrassment.
Those stage performances are not really the same thing as clinical hypnosis - they resemble it but stage magicians have described it differently. Basically people can be manipulated into doing all sorts of things on stage without any actual hypnosis but merely by suggestiong
sometimes the subject simply does not want to botch the performance that the magician has set up so just goes along with it to get it over with. It would be difficult for some people to just sit there like a lump when the entire room expects you to squawk like a chicken.
I have to give some credit to Penn Jillette. He was such an obnoxious MAGA-adjacent libertarian, and there may have been a time when he would have been okay with these legal tactics if someone framed it as "the free market" deciding that hypnosis was a legitimate investigative procedure. Unlike the majority on the Right, COVID actually spurred him to reevaluate his beliefs rather than just dig in deeper. Can't say I agree with everything he says, but his story offers us some promise.
You know, there are countries where Christianity is actually the official religion. These knucklehead smiffs could move to any one of them and, uh, try to make trouble there.
Wait 'til they find out that the Christian religion is thousands of years old and its sectors believe many different things.
"The King James 1611 Bible is the only one that saaaaaves!" - these maniacs
They always quote that old Yahweh book. Then they call themselves "Christians". Didn't anyone ever explain the the Old Book was just prelude for the Real Book?...
Things like this are so stupidly wrong they make you despair if they will ever get anything right. And of course they stay in power claiming to stand for law and order. Why do people put up with it?
The post gives me the opportunity to share the quote I like to trot out every time some blatant injustice is being committed, particularly in Texas. It's a quote from the attorney who successfully persuaded the high court to overturn Randal Adams' conviction as captured in the award winning (and totally excellent documentary) "The Thin Blue Line".
𝘔𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘺𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘳: 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘋𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 - 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘢 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯.
https://www.nbcdfw.com/local/dfw-morningnews-melvyn-bruder-dallas-defense-lawyer-who-won-death-row-precedent-before-u-s-supreme-court-dies-at-75/49025/
Great article. Just between you & me, it's Penn Jillette (not homonym Gillette) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Jillette
Big fan, I figure we all have to help each other since editing is a dead scene now lol
Long time fan. Once met Teller in line for a movie at the then-new Tower City center cinemas in Cleveland. Yes, he spoke.
Penn Gillette's worldview has always fit lock and key with my brothers somewhat obnoxious take on human existence. Perhaps My brother's most prized non-firearm possession is the trick and prank book Penn published when we were kids. in addition to step-by-step instructions for the old cons, which still work, there are pages that you photocopy and submit when some innocent person asks you to contribute to a community recipe book at a club or church or whatever. The recipes are designed to lead to kitchen disasters, such as frothing cake batter caused by directly mixing baking soda and vinegar.
There were limits as I recall. The book highly praised, but did not include the instructions to build, a device that used high voltage electricity and a metal probe to turn a whole kosher pickle into a plasma lamp that glowed green.
Personally I prefer the "Art of Parties."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHH-D6y_O5Y
And memory isn't video verite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZujJVGNx4JE
it is “very difficult for the audience to contradict the ideas that they themselves have constructed.”
this is fascinating
Baconz thinks of a line from Hamlet: "I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a hand saw."
Trump:
"The wind is northerly by southeast. and they know not a hand saw from and from a dove. I promise to you my endearing friends....I WILL BE FUCKING INSANE!!!!"
"Bull Shit" was one of the best shows ever.
There I said it and stand by it.
(Love or hate Baconz for that statement)
It is not true that the brain records experiences like a camera or tape recorder so that you can later 'play them back' fully and accurately. Memory is a construction that different parts of the brain collaborate on. Most of the time it is pretty accurate. Occassionaly, based on certain factors, it is completely wrong. At it does not have to be a trauma that distorts of suppressed the memory. It could just be you a jet lagged.
THis happened to me. I was in Taiwan for 3 weeks for work. The first weekend I wanted to walk around Taipei and look for a shop that I knew about that sold Tibetan art. I walked by a big octagonal governement buiding with big windows and set at the center of a big field with 8 walkways. I never did find the Tibetan shop but I had a great lunch.
When I rode back to my hotel in the shuttle we drove right past the tibetan shop so I determined I would come back the next weekend to go there. Somewhere along the way, in the hour it took to return to my work city, the two memories merged without my being aware of it so I had an image of that big octagonal building with large TIbetan style paintings in each window and since I knew where it was I figured it would be easy to return there.
When I returned the next week I was surprised to see that the 'shop' had changed/closed and there were no paintings anywhere. It was now a government building. It was surprising to have such a clear demonstration of the fallibility of memory.
You steered us to helping save Marcellus Williams in Missouri. Is there a chance Texas will follow suit? Because damn, this is just as horrifying, if not more so.
O/T, but the can't wait until the Open Thread. The Professor of Rock is talking about The Shaggs!
https://youtu.be/N_PZaK2RaJc?si=Kg--ySwq6bjIq4wQ
I dunno. It SOUNDS weird, but lyrically, "My Pal Foot Foot" makes sense once you understand that Foot Foot is a cat.
But it does sound weird. The Shaggs had the requisite 10,000+ hours of practice that it is said is necessary to make one an expert on any skill...but they had no training and about as much experience of actual Earthling music as a Martian would. There are people who study The Shaggs's catalog as an example of truly organic, sui generis music.
Anyway, since Prof can only play short clips, here's "My Pal Foot Foot" in its uncut glory.
https://youtu.be/XR9d4ESlpHY?si=28wgb8L0_cjsAcxo
Nobody sounded like them, that's for sure.
I read that their parents were pretty awful - but I can't remember the details right now
Yeah, I've heard that, too. The father, mostly, he raised them alone after their mother died. In fact, her death was a part of the "prophecy" that led to him forcing them to become a band.
It's one reason why I won't join in about any hee-hawing about how "awful" they were. First of all, they were victims of their father's lunatic obsession. Second, I'm not sure they actually were "bad," considering that they had to invent almost everything they learned about music, themselves.
I agree with you completely. They invented a complely unknown musical style with its own rules.
OT.
I asked a fellow Wonker (a good friend and spouse), as a simi-joke, "how much does that roof weigh and how quickly can it be retracted in that ball field in Arizona?" I got an answer.
They were reporters on the scene!!!
Fuuckin' LOVE Wonkette!!!!!
"Hypnosis is a game that 2 people can play, and the person being hypnotized is the one in charge."
-- someone who would know
When I was a teen, I went to a hypnosis demonstration in a tent at the county fair.
The hypnotist got another kid as a volunteer to show how post-hypnotic suggestion worked. He put the kid under and told him when he said a certain word, the kid was to know that a huge flood was imminent and the whole place had to be evacuated immediately.
So the kid's excused and the hypnotist is doing his routine and he utters the word, whereupon the kid runs up on stage, hysterical, frantically warning everyone about the flood, to the raucus laughter of the audience.
I saw the kid outside, after, crying with rage and embarrassment.
Kind of put me off the whole hypnosis thing.
That’s my thought too.
Those stage performances are not really the same thing as clinical hypnosis - they resemble it but stage magicians have described it differently. Basically people can be manipulated into doing all sorts of things on stage without any actual hypnosis but merely by suggestiong
Sounds weird!
sometimes the subject simply does not want to botch the performance that the magician has set up so just goes along with it to get it over with. It would be difficult for some people to just sit there like a lump when the entire room expects you to squawk like a chicken.
I have to give some credit to Penn Jillette. He was such an obnoxious MAGA-adjacent libertarian, and there may have been a time when he would have been okay with these legal tactics if someone framed it as "the free market" deciding that hypnosis was a legitimate investigative procedure. Unlike the majority on the Right, COVID actually spurred him to reevaluate his beliefs rather than just dig in deeper. Can't say I agree with everything he says, but his story offers us some promise.
hey everywonk! it heeeeeeere!!!
yrrrrrr
smoking lamp
has been lit ALLDAYLONG today hooraaaaaaaaayy!!!
4:20 on 4/20 deserves a second puff!...
yeeeeeeeees!
Wheeeeeeeee!
Must be that "Christian state"...
https://substack.com/profile/155628850-impoed/note/c-246512535?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2knnzm
You know, there are countries where Christianity is actually the official religion. These knucklehead smiffs could move to any one of them and, uh, try to make trouble there.
Wait 'til they find out that the Christian religion is thousands of years old and its sectors believe many different things.
"The King James 1611 Bible is the only one that saaaaaves!" - these maniacs
"Huh?" - Everyone in Greece
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_state
They always quote that old Yahweh book. Then they call themselves "Christians". Didn't anyone ever explain the the Old Book was just prelude for the Real Book?...
Caitlyn Jenner: “Mr. President, my passport has an ‘M’ on it. What does that mean?”
Senile Satan: “The ‘M’ stands for moron. You were stupid enough to support me.”
https://bsky.app/profile/nothoodlum.bsky.social/post/3mjx7652ddc2a
payback's a bitch, katie. may she be constantly looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life
Things like this are so stupidly wrong they make you despair if they will ever get anything right. And of course they stay in power claiming to stand for law and order. Why do people put up with it?