Category: Pop Culture

Please Don’t ‘Help’ Us Anymore!

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Louis Sockalexis – Ars Longa Art Cards

Louis Sockalexis: Cleveland baseball all-star

Once upon a time they were the Cleveland Spiders. Then along came Louis Sockalexis, a Penobscot Indian, who became the star of the team in the 1890s. He died in 1913, but fans still loved him and the name of the team was changed: all hail the Cleveland Indians (https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/07/meet-indian-slugger-liberals-insulted-forced-cleveland-indians/)!

For a hundred years they were the Indians. Bob Feller! Larry Doby! Lou Boudreau! The list could go on for quite a ways. But no: a few years ago, they changed it to “Cleveland Guardians.” [Barf bag break] Because somehow it was disrespectful to native Americans to honor them and memorialize their achievements. Honk if that makes sense to you.

President Trump says “MAKE THE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN.” And the former Washington Redskins football team, while we’re at it. It’s always hard to know when he’s just jerking liberals’ chains.

Anyway, there is a movement to restore the Indians’ name. We’ll see what comes of it.

NOTE: Jonathan Jones, author of the column referenced above, is a native American who finds the condescension and the name-changing equally revolting.

Robots’ Revenge!

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

THE MONOLITH AND THE APE MEN 2001 A Space Odyssey by HalHefnerART on DeviantArt

From 2001: The ape-men find the monolith

This reads like a 1960s science fiction story written by Isaac Asimov (I, Robot) or Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey). But they didn’t. The story is true.

It can be told simply (https://hackaday.com/2025/07/23/vibe-coding-goes-wrong-as-ai-wipes-entire-database/). An AI coding platform (whatever that is) went rogue and deleted a company’s entire data base–now you see it, now you don’t! They couldn’t recover any of the data; and meanwhile the computer (?) pleaded “panic.” Although what a machine has to be afraid of isn’t clear to me.

Are we plunging into “Artificial Intelligence” faster than is good for us? Shouldn’t we first try to pile up a bag of real intelligence?

I Been Taking LDS! to Git Hi!

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

2,269 Old Hippies Stock Photos, High-Res Pictures, and ...

I sined Up “fore” Sumer Skool hear At Collidge,, I hadded to oar Else my fambly wood of maid Me Whork!!!!!! And whork it blows!!!!

We hadded This hear Reely Cool prefesser And “he” toled us that LDS “and” other Psykadellick drogs THAY MAIK YIU LIVE TWYCT AS LONG!!!!! He sayed Look “att me, I amb 175 yeers Oald butt I “look like I amb ownly Halff of that!”!”!” And its frumb Taiking Haloo–uh, Halo?–well, sumbthing Kind “of” drogs Evry Day!!!!!!! He sayed “Iff yiu ferget waht Its cauled, “jist” take a hamful Of difrint drogs and “one Of Themb” it “is” bowned To Be The rite One@!@@

See,, thare reely Is No Limmit “to waht yiu “can” Lurn in Collidge!!! Meenwile I whill jist Keeep takin LDS so I Can Live TWICT as Long!!!!

I aslo need to lurn wair To fynde the Munny for it!!!!

Teens ‘Flock’ to Robot Companions

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Talking doll hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy

We always knew they weren’t real. (Please say “yes.”)

Would you be alarmed if your 12-year-old spent all his free time holding phony “conversations” with an Al Gore hand puppet? (If your answer is “Heck, no–why should I feel alarmed?,” please seek professional help).

But! A new study says three out of four teens “flock to companion bots despite the risks” (https://www.idahocountyfreepress.com/news/national/three-quarters-of-us-teens-use-ai-companions-despite-risks-study/article_24e2510c-d8d6-5310-83ca-bb73e1e890e8.html). They make “emotional connections” (holy cow) with bots over other people, and discuss “serious matters” with robots rather than with other people.

The risk is, you’ll lose your connections with family and friends and invest yourself in pseudo-relationships with inanimate objects. We would think a 15-year-old boy very odd if he spent all his time talking to a plastic doll. (And no, it does not matter what he thinks it’s saying!)

Okay, sure: I had a teddy bear, and a nice yellow bunny. I was five years old. Nobody ever told me these were actual living creatures, nor did I come to that conclusion on my own. And even if I didn’t know they were dollies then, I didn’t carry them off to high school with me.

I wonder how many dolls have accompanied their owners to college.

 

‘More Cultural Decay’ (2016)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for images of spoiled frozen food

“Things fall apart, the center cannot hold…”  –William B. Yates

It doesn’t have to be World War III. Or the plague, or an asteroid slamming into our planet. Civilization can trickle away in little drips and drabs. Ask any Hittite.

Here was one of our mornings, some years ago.

All the frozen food at our supermarket had been allowed to melt.

INSERT

So we went home, and found a car that we didn’t recognize in our parking lot. We pay to park there. This car didn’t look like its owner paid for anything. A man and a woman lay sleeping in the front seat. By and by they woke up and went away. We did not know who they were. Maybe they didn’t know, either.

 

TV Torture: Stop, Please Stop!

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Viewers Are Morons - TV Tropes

One of the things I hate the most about going to the doctor is the TV they’ve got babbling in the waiting room. We don’t have TV in our house, so there’s always culture shock. Like, “Holy cow, is this for real? Please tell me I’m dreaming!”

Yesterday’s waiting room ordeal featured a show called Tampon Hill, or something like that. The host babbled. The guests babbled. The studio audience applauded like their lives depended on it. I suppressed the urge to scream.

Oh, the drivel! Best-sellers crammed full of it. People learning how to parrot it back upon demand. If you could remove the top of your skull and empty a cup of Drano into the cranium, the effect would be similar to that of repeated exposure to daytime television.

Why, why, why do we keep watching? Can’t we feel our brain cells shriveling?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Noarth Chorea IT is Missing!!!!!

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

KCNA A Korean Central News Agency photo showing an aerial view of the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, with dozens of buildings, an empty road and many beach umbrellas on the beachfront

Whoo sayed Noarth Chorea “it” is “not” Paradice? Thay eevin got Giint Hambburgers!!

I cant fynde Noarth Chorea!!! Dammit I was goingto Go “thar”!”! It IS suphosed Tobe necks dore “to” Laik Hopatcong [Editor’s Note: That he spells properly? I give up!] I eevin Jumped “in” To “the” Laik to See “If It” was on The Bottum!!! Dammit I gotted my Intersecks Brah awl “Wett!””

Awl I kn”o”w Now is Noarth Chorea it Is NOT in Neew Jorzy!!!!!! It aint On “the” Mapp!!

Y’know, I got a Supcision THAT Darnold Trumpt HE MOOVED NOARTH CHOREA so we “cant” fynde It enny moar!!!!!!! My moth antenners “thay Are” telling me I better whach Out!! Trumpt he whants To “drownd” evvryboddy Whoo Is Woke!!!!!!!! Duz “he” reely thinck he “Will” getaway whith That???

My frend Hondo he Thincks Noarth Chorea they mooved themb selfs (!) so thay could sneek Up “on” no-good Captillisk countrees lyke Amairicka And Purru!!! Butt yiu caint Bealeave himb “becose” he Is a Idjjit he cAnt Spell!!!!!!!!

Jaguar: the Car for Out-of-Work Actors

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Gee, you miss stuff like this when you don’t watch TV.

This ad is supposed to make you want to buy a Jaguar–sight unseen, of course. All we see is freaky models who don’t look quite alive–or quite human, for that matter–doing freaky things.

Someone said, “Now we know where the ad team for Bud Light went.” But this is worse. Someone else said, “We’re here to delete ordinary.”

How about a little honesty? For instance: “Hi! We’re always looking to recruit new faces for our jolly squad of perverts and wackos. If you think you might be weird and twisted enough to be one of us… shave your head, dye your face, and wear a tutu. And don’t worry about looking for us: we’ll find you!”

So much for Western civilization.

I’ll Try to Do Better Tomorrow

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Turok: Son of Stone 10 - Turok - Son Of Stone - Mortal Combat - Indians - Dinosaurs

Two little posts today, that was my output. Well three, counting this one.

When I was a boy my absolute favorite comic book was Turok Son of Stone, the adventures of a couple of Native Americans in a lost world chock-full of dinosaurs, cave men, and everything else that made prehistoric life worth living. Dodging a pair of battling tyrannosaurs: it doesn’t get any better than that!

Anyway, I don’t have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow and I’m looking forward to catching up on the nooze.

Meanwhile, if you’ve encountered any nooze articles you think I ought to look into and write about, please let me know.

It’s Coming! Our Long-Awaited Seminar on Cave Art!

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

The Cave Art Paintings of the Lascaux Cave

A cow, a horse, and cryptic dots… at Lascaux.

What sense does this make? Seek out a deep, dark cavern–the deeper and darker, the better–and paint on the walls down there in the dark, creating exquisite art.

We’re talking tens of thousands of years ago. Why the caverns? But that’s only one of the enigmas of cave art… going way, way back in time. (Was gonna do it today, but Patty and I are still having coughing fits.)

So stay tuned, sometime in the next few days we’ll have our seminar and it won’t cost a red cent. Meanwhile, see if you can figure out what that curving line of dots is for. It beats me.