The first ten on today’s playlist:

What’s the weirdest thing a woman has told you means “you’re not a real man”?

Which incident you want? Women love this one.

A few times it was because I knew how to decorate and to cook. In each of these cases, I think it was because I did both better than they knew how to — which I am quite proud of. In life, I’ve found many supposed insults are actually compliments and I take them as such.

When a dumbass maligns you, it’s great praise.

Why don’t men (males) get more info?

Because we just do not care. I don’t listen to gossip (for the most part) and don’t care about it one way or the other. Most men are similar. Women are raised in a totally different social milieu where gossip is prized. Men are not, for the most part. It just means little to us therefore.

Relatedly, I had a couple of fairly close friends in the army and I didn’t even know their first names (everyone uses last names or army nicknames there). No idea if they had any siblings or much else about them. Not uncommon for men at all. Can’t even imagine that with a woman.

Which (non IT) department do you find has the least technical knowledge, and which one has the most?

HR and Accounting usually have the least knowledge. If you ask someone in HR what application they were using when an issue occurred, typically you’ll get a response like “Adobe Windows” or something nonsensical like that. I’ve had people in HR claim that their Windows has “never had a Start menu.” (Spoiler alert: it did and always had.)

Accounting people tend to be good at specific things in Excel, but nothing else. I’ve had a few who didn’t even really know how to log into their PCs. Which, you know, you’d think after 15+ years of doing so they’d get the hang of it. But you’d be wrong.

The most knowledgeable outside of IT tend to be business analysts, probably because like sysadmins (and related) in IT, they have to understand systems and they have to be good at many, many things. I’ve had a few BAs over the years teach me a thing or two I did not know (usually a keyboard shortcut or some reg hack). And that’s extremely rare, to say the least.

In Japan, vending machines are practically everywhere…Even at the summit of Mt. Fuji (12,389 ft above sea level), there are vending machines.

I didn’t see any vending machines, but there was a shop/snack stand near the top of Mt. Sinai in Egypt. I climbed that mountain in 1996, the route with the 3,750 “steps of penitence.” And that was a lot of steps. And when you finish, calves aflame, you see the inspiring sight of a bunch of other mountains that look just like it. That is, kinda tan and featureless.

Did it once, would not do it again.

The Covidians like to pretend and retcon that they did not drastically overreact to Covid, but if you go back and read their essays and tweets — dang, that is some pure fucking crazy there. Many were advocating that restaurants and nightclubs be closed down forever and anything fun halted for all time. Tons were carping about people going to the beach even after vaccination was widespread. Which, you know, is about the safest thing you could possibly do.

And many of them are still acting like whiny, undersupervised children but fortunately nearly everyone is ignoring them now. They are more suited for light amusement now than a real problem, so I hardly write about them any longer. I just look and do a sensible chuckle, then look away.

Anyone who thinks the Russian invasion and attempted genocide in Ukraine has anything to do with NATO expansion or Nazis in Ukraine is approaching Ian Welshian levels of cracksmoking fuckwittery.

It’s just the standard authoritarian revanchism; dreaming of mythical lost empires.

English can be a difficult language. It can be learned through tough thorough thought throughout, though.

I hate smartphones so much. If this is the future, the future sucks. We made a mistake — let’s go back.

I looked up this video to say the very thing a commenter said: “I can’t think of anything that captures the vibe of the transition from the late ’80s into the early ’90s more than this video.” There were others, too. But this presaged much of the 1990s and while still having 1980s styling and directly led to the popularity of bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden. No “Epic,” most likely no “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

I remember the first time I saw this video and heard this song. It was on MTV sometime in the spring of 1990. I was transfixed. I recall arguing with some kid at school about it shortly thereafter because he said “Epic” wasn’t “real music” because Mike Patton spends so much time rapping instead of singing. You know, the usual bullshit.

What a great bassline and hook, though.

This was a time when culture still underwent periodic, massive shifts. That just does not happen anymore. It’s all flattened; deculturation in action. Culture has been nearly static since 2005 or so and that shows no signs of changing.

If the left were really concerned with power imbalances in relationships, they should only allow people within 5 IQ points of one another to date. Now that’d be something real, unlike most of what they care about.

But the left can’t even credibly talk nor think about IQ, so that aspect gets ignored completely. But I can tell you from observation and experience it’s much, much, much easier to dominate someone where you hold a brainpower advantage than it is someone you hold a wealth advantage over or are merely older than they are. (How I know is that my mom, after my parents’ divorce, admittedly and purposefully only dated men much dumber than she was, and she ran them like they were marionettes. Again, this was a deliberate strategy on her part.)

I’m not famous, but am attractive and successful. And my bullying between fifth and ninth grade was so bad I got hit in the head hard enough with a tree branch one time I had trouble walking for days afterward. I have scars inside my cheeks from being punched in the face a lot. And my nose is busted up. Battle scars.

But it did get better. Those were bad years, though. For a while I had basically no friends and was a complete misfit. This is what happens when you’re poor, smart, and raised by wolves in a rural area. But I’m doing great now. However, I wouldn’t wish on anyone what happened to me. If it weren’t for books and music, I’m not sure I would’ve made it. In fact I know I would not have.