Sunday, June 01, 2025
Scott Adams re: the idiocy of "The View"
And for the literal-minded: no, Scott Adams didn't literally end "The View."
Harvard is determined to make itself the next shithole
You had a chance to fix your garbage institution. You didn’t take it. Now we’re going to fix it for you and it’s going to hurt. https://t.co/qUgDV0pLt8
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) May 23, 2025
The above tweet only scratches the surface. Watch these:
All the usual bullshit about Trump being an authoritarian for threatening to boot out a third of Harvard's student population—all foreigners—for illegally inciting riots on American soil while they're here on mere student visas. Sure, this is the equivalent of rounding Jews up on trains and sending them to camps! But if there are any similarities to Nazis here, it's on the level of pro-Hamas antisemitism from these stupid kids. How does it feel to be a Jew on campus, constantly under threat, unable to walk across campus without being harassed, and getting no support from the campus's higher-ups? This is Harvard? Now, if I were an intemperate god-emperor, these keffiyeh-wearing, moronically self-identifying demonstrators would all be rounded up, wrapped with metal cables, gently and publicly electrocuted for several hours, then given the flamethrower treatment to end their misery. Hey, they think we're Nazis, so let's prove them right! Good thing I'm not god-emperor.
ADDENDUM, 5/24: a judge issues an injunction again the Trump administration. Of course.
A federal judge on Friday issued an injunction to block a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) directive that revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students.
The temporary block, issued by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, came in response to a lawsuit filed by Harvard University earlier in the day. The Ivy League college had alleged that the DHS directive targeting the university was an unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s demands.
“With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” lawyers for Harvard said in the lawsuit.
On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered Harvard to be removed from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, noting that this means that a number of foreign-born Harvard students must transfer to another U.S. college.
“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” Noem said in her statement. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments.”
Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most are graduate students, and they come from more than 100 countries.
Harvard’s international enrollment stems from an April 16 request from Noem, who said that Harvard must provide information about foreign students that might implicate them in violence or protests that could lead to their deportation.
Noem said Harvard can regain its ability to host foreign students if it produces a trove of records on foreign students within 72 hours. Her updated request demands all records, including audio or video footage, of foreign students participating in protests or dangerous activity on campus.
Harvard’s lawsuit is asking a federal judge to immediately block the order by Noem targeting its enrollment practices. It names U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Noem, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of State, and others as defendants.
“It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” Harvard’s lawyers stated.
It's unconstitutional to fight our antisemitism!
I wonder how things have progressed since May 24.
to what degree should you let AI "help" you?
Are we going to end up in a milquetoast, artificial, AI-generated society?
do or don't work out like David Goggins?
I would lean toward don't. But that's because I'm a flabby mess.
A second vote for don't:
A third vote for don't:
Ave, Charles!
Go read Charles's comprehensive review of "Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning." Just remember to deactivate your VPN to see Charles's site. I had to smile because Charles, in his review, picked up on the same choice-versus-inevitability dynamic I've highlighted. And his insights about AI, which he's considered more deeply than I have, are a treat to read.
I'll be seeing this film in a few months once it's out on streaming video, and I'll have my own review then. Sit tight.
Saturday, May 31, 2025
images
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| Relax. This meme is about the violent ones. Which is a lot of 'em. |
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| Maybe the hot ones do that. The ugly ones sleep naked to punish you. |
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| "parties" versus "party's"... sheesh |
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| Wear gloves when handling the business cards. Don't leave prints. |
ululate!
Loretta Swit has died at 87. For a long time, she was the TV version of "Hot Lips" Houlihan on the long-running series "M*A*S*H" (1972-1983) based on the 1970 Robert Altman movie of the same name (where Houlihan had been played by Sally Kellerman)—a movie that was set during the Korean War but which unsubtly critiqued the Vietnam War, still ongoing at the time (the movie was based on a 1968 novel, also titled MASH, by Richard Hooker). I never thought Swit was the prettiest of actresses—she never inspired any youthful lust in me—but she was funny, smart, and talented—yet another fixture from my childhood. From what I gather, her death was from "natural causes." RIP.
Mother Nature smiles... for the moment
It looks as though, tomorrow, the daytime weather will be warm, but nighttime temps ought to make for comfortable walking. Tomorrow evening, around 6 p.m., I'll train out to Yangpyeong Station and walk 33K to the city of Yeoju. This walk will be an all-nighter, from 8 p.m. until a bit after dawn at my slow pace, and I'll likely rest a lot along the way. I've decided to do this walk instead of the 35K walk from Hanam to Yangpyeong, mainly because I just like the Yangpyeong-Yeoju segment better. The 35K stretch is nice, and both segments have their monotonous moments (all the tunnels from Hanam to Yangpyeong; a 3-5K bit that's not quite along the riverside from Yangpyeong to Yeoju), but the 33K stretch includes two dams, which you don't get anywhere along the Hanam-Yangpyeong route. Warmer weather means I'll have to bring along at least two bottles of water. You know how much I love the Korean summer.
the new, lower-sugar cookies
I made good on my threat to make even lower-sugar chocolate-chip cookies. The chips themselves are still real semi-sweet chocolate, but because I switched out Truvia brown sugar, which is 50% real sugar, with BochaSweet brown "sugar," there is now no added sugar aside from the chocolate chips. I really should do the macros for this recipe. I assume the cashews, which are not considered the best for people attempting keto (best nuts = Brazil nuts, walnuts, and macadamias), also contain some carbs. Still, the cookies—which were already low-sugar when I was using Truvia—are now even lower in sugar. Expect a breakdown of the cookies' macros sometime next week. Frankly, I'm curious to see the macros myself.
Behold:
As always, these are made with almond flour, which means they need help to spread while baking, so part of the procedure involves smooshing the cookie-dough balls almost flat. I use some parchment paper and a small glass to press down on the cookies, which then bake at 163ºC/325ºF. In my quirky oven, I bake using only the bottom burner for nine minutes and thirty seconds, then I set the oven to use both top and bottom burners for two minutes and thirty seconds to ensure browning on top. Once done, the cookies are taken out and allowed to cool for at least an hour, which gives them a chance to harden. I usually end up with a batch of about sixteen cookies thanks to the addition of chocolate chips and crushed cashews (or other nuts), plus a bit of extra raw dough, which I eat as the "chef's tax." The recipe comes from ADIDAF (All Day I Dream About Food), whose keto recipes are generally good, with some occasional duds (like her keto bread). The cashews and BochaSweet are my own alterations.
I didn't get to make sauerkraut and coleslaw on Friday, so these become Saturday projects. With my batch of sixteen cookies, I can eat four a day for four days, but I'll likely be skipping this Sunday since I plan to go on a little walk from Yangpyeong to Yeoju—an all-nighter.
Oh, yeah: my other major alteration is that I use almond extract instead of vanilla extract, which makes these cookies smell and taste insanely good. I don't know that I'll ever use sugar-free chocolate chips to make these; I feel as if that would ruin them, rendering them insipid. With almost all of the carbs gone (except whatever's in the almond flour and the cashews), they'd be boring. Munch on, O brave ones!
Friday, May 30, 2025
from that to this
I'll be sending my buddy Mike the 300 dpi version of this. First the original, blown up way past thumbnail size; next, the improved version—somewhat more abstract, but smoother-looking thanks to the initial pass with Illustrator. A vector version is coming. I promise.
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| original: was only about 150 pixels wide, 72 dpi; hand-drawn, colored in Photoshop |
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I ran the first image through Illustrator, then converted it to a raster Photoshop file at 300 dpi for Mike's image; everything else was done via Photoshop Elements 2022. I totally redid the neckwear ("chain of office"), and in looking at the image now, I see some lines that need to be thickened for the sake of evenness. I'll make those changes before sending a file to Mike. |
Expect the 300-dpi version in an email, Mike.
Here we go, with thicker lines in certain places:
...or should I thicken up the lines of the hat?
ADDENDUM: Andrew Rother writes in to say he thinks the hat's lines need to be thickened up as well. Your wish is my command:
I won't be thickening the neckline.
progress report
I'm working on a colorized version of the Mike-as-Richard-III image I'd shown the other day (see here). This is all being done in Photoshop, so it won't be a vector file, which is too bad. Once I learn more about Illustrator and graphic design in general, though, I'll come back to the image, colorize it, and publish it as a vector file, scalable to whatever size. For now, Mike will have to make do with 600 dpi.
I'm also spending the day cooking up (1) almost-keto chocolate-chip cookies using 100% BochaSweet (Truvia, which I'd used before, is 50% real sugar), (2) sauerkraut with my leftover cabbage, and (3) coleslaw, also with my leftover cabbage. I'll be making some hot-dog chili over the weekend, which means keto hot-dog buns. I might also slow-cook some pork, add my low-sugar (not keto) BBQ sauce, and have some pulled-pork sammiches.
Thursday, May 29, 2025
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