Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.

–Jean-Paul Sartre

Loose-leaf Pu Er from the Asian grocery is pretty excellent.

But if the viewer speaks French then they would understand the French audio dialogue, so if a (deaf) viewer speaks French, then they ought to have the opportunity to read the French subtitled dialogue.

Adjacent pet peeve: When there’s captioning, and a character in a movie speaks a foreign language, and the captions read “[Speaking in French]”, or even worse, “[Speaking in foreign language]”.

Just caption “Jette-le à l’arrière du camion et emmène-le hors de la ville.”! If I do or don’t speak French, and if I can hear or if I’m deaf, then the caption would serve the same purpose either way!

The Disney movie Moana made me furious with this, in the flashback during “We Know the Way,” when the islanders are singing (I assume) Polynesian, but the lyrics are just “[Singing in foreign language]”. The fuck, Disney?! You’re usually good at translation!

“I WANTED ORANGE FANTA!” [Throws 17th century emerald cup across the room]

First they came for the beer and soda drinkers, and I did not speak out—because I did not drink beer and soda.

PLEASE ADOPT VERIFICATION CAT TO CONTINUE

Whales and elephants have cancer suppressing genes, but the article says that there’s evidence that dinosaurs got cancer, so it’s not just size. But hell, if an ape can grow as big as Kong, who’s to say that it wouldn’t also have the cancer suppressing gene?

“To prove that you are human, donate $$$ to Doctors Without Borders.”

“To prove that you are human, register to vote.”

“To prove that you are human, adopt a pet from the local animal shelter.”

I remember Wil Wheaton saying this in The Guild, but was he also quoting Rand at the time?

Like this?

TIL about Twelve-Mile Circle

Did you catch all-despising baby skull last night?

My feeling right after the Biden-Trump debate was pretty much the same as my feeling after the Harris-Trump debate: I do not understand what the American electorate wants, and I can’t predict their behavior. I was horrified by Biden’s performance, but I couldn’t say if that would matter. I was really pleased with Harris’ performance, and I’m glad that it seems to be pushing things in the right direction, but by Odin’s beard I cannot fathom how Trump could have a political career at all, let alone what it will take to really change the minds of anyone who is still undecided at this point. I’ll take what I can get, but I can’t predict the mental workings of undecided voters in Arizona, Georgia, or Wisconsin.

Kamala is the best version of a normal politician fighting against Trump. It remains to be seen if that’s enough, because he’s just so goddamn weird that it’s difficult to even compare Tool A to Problem B.

I think she’s incorporated virtually all of the strengths of any of her comparable peers, and almost none of their weaknesses. I think that, given the nature of the opponent and his total lack of seriousness, she said everything I would reasonably hope she would have said during this debate.

I also think that I don’t properly understand the collective psyche of the American electorate. I don’t understand how the election could be this close, when it is a choice between a serious, competent, passionate, talented professional, and a man who is literally a collection of all of the worst possible traits a person could have. That it could come down to such a narrow choice is a mystery for the ages.

Was it ever made canon that the old Klingon “gods” were a spacefaring race that conquered the still plabet-bound Klingons with superior technology and were eventually overthrown? I feel like that might have been beta canon, or maybe just a very compelling fan theory.

There’s that DS9 episode where Jadzia risks exile from Trill society to revisit an old relationship, and, if not necessarily trans, it reads pretty obviously as a queer allegory.

But more doctors smoke Camels!

Humanity truly is a species built on community and mutual support.