From Pine View Farm

First Looks category archive

The Fear Factor 0

Pig watching television.  Voice from TV says,

Click to view the original image.

Methinks Rat has a point.

Aside:

In the late 1990s, I was working for a company that manufactured security software. Their programmers were working like mad to make sure their software made it into 2000 without any issues.

One of my neighbors was so freaked out by the hype around Y2K that he bought a generator. It was I swear the world’s loudest home generator with the world’s most sensitive auto-switch. The slightest little blip in the current–one that you didn’t even notice if you were watching TV at the time, one so small that it didn’t even make the lights blink–would cause it to come on and wake the neighborhood.

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Fatal Attraction 0

Using the recent incident at the Republican National Convention as a starting point, Professor Arie W. Kruglanski explores the pull of the portable phallus, why the disaffected feel so gun. In light of the soaring number of shootings in the United States, methinks it a worthwhile read. Here’s a tiny bit:

Why, though, if everyone yearns for significance and respect, do only very few individuals drop everything to attend to concerns of their ego? And why do they choose gun violence when there are many other ways of gaining recognition: through good works, career achievements, athleticism, etc.? The answer to the first question is personal, and to the second, cultural. The quest for significance needs to be strongly activated to elicit action. Humiliation, discrimination, and a history of bullying and exclusion (apparently suffered by Crooks) can bring one to a boiling point, ready to do just about anything to restore their hurt sense of self worth. Violence, unfortunately, is a most direct and immediate means for humans to assert dominance and power, and hence to earn the respect of others. Therefore it comes to mind almost automatically when feeling belittled, dishonored, or treated as if one didn’t matter.

(Broken link fixed.)

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Old Timey Kingdoms 0

Thom discusses the Republican plan to undo the American revolution and reduce America to a monarchy under Trump.

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The Job Seeker 0

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Defensive Driving 0

H. Colleen Sinclair offers some pointers about how to safely navigate the Disinformation Superhighway.

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Dis Coarse Discourse 0

The Wizard of Id gestures over his crystal ball.  He says,

Click to view the original image.

One more time, “social” media isn’t.

Indeed, methinks “social” media has contributed mightily to the coarseness of dis coarse discourse. Persons on “social” media forget that their discourse is public and have turned the public arena into a locker roon.

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Break Time 0

Off to drink liberally.

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A Tune for the Times 0

Mangy Fetlocks stands aghast marvels at right-wing evangelical they-call-themselves Christians embrace of Trump.

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Devolution 0

Creature emerges from a pool.  In a walk around the pool the creature gradually evolves into apes, then eventually, into a human pouring garbage into the pool.

Via Job’s Anger.

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The Free Pass 0

Frane One:  James Bond holds his

Via C&L.

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And Now for a Musical Interlude 0

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Recommended Viewing 0

Forensic Investigators.

It’s sort of an Australian Forensic Files, with added dramatizations. If you’re a mystery buff like me, I think you will find it interesting.

I’m watching it on Tubi.

Speaking of mysteries, I’m rereading the Julie Williamson mysteries by William D. Andrews, and they are just as good the second time around. You can find them at Islandport Press.

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Establishmentarians 0

PoliticalProf notes an unintended inference.

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Truth-in-Labeling 0

Couple looking at the Supreme Court, now renamed

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A Trivial Moment 0

Thanks to an episode of Forensic Investigators, I learned that, in Australia, Queensland is the “Sunshine State.”

If you liked Forensic Files, you’ll like Forensic Investigators.

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Break Time 0

Off to drink liberally.

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The Lake Effect 0

The Arizona Republic’s E. J. Montini wonders if the Lake is evaporating.

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Establishmentarians 0

At the Kansas City Star, Baptist minister Stephen D. Jones expresses grave concerns that we are in danger of losing our freedom of (and freedom from) religion under the influence of what he refers to as “white Christian nationalists” Here’s what he has to say about their motivation (emphasis added); follow the link for the rest.

White Christian nationalists breed on fear. They want a privileged place in America because they feel sidelined in a multiracial, multifaith society. They haven’t learned how to live with diversity, let alone cherish it. They want to live in a racial silo, hanging out with their own kind. Hence, “white.” Hence, their partisan objection to diversity, equity and inclusion.

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Nor Any Drop To Drink 0

Mike and Farron try to make sense of Florida’s banning mandatory water breaks for persons who work outside in Florida’s subtropical heat, and, as someone who has visited Florida in the summer, I can attest that it’s pretty darn hot. (Mike and Farron then go on to address prescription drug price gouging.)

I grew up on the farm pictured at the top of this page–yes, that is Pine View Farm, full of pines because Daddy loved him his pine trees. When I was little, my father would send me out to pull weeds in the fields, because fields got to be weeded. When I got older, he taught me how to drive the tractor so I could plow and harrow and cultivate the fields. (And, man, I loved driving that old Farmall C! My favorite task was harrowing, because you dnn’t have to think, you just had to drive around and make sure you don’t miss a spot.) Taking care of the farm was all just part of being a farm boy

But my Daddy never told me I couldn’t have a drink of water when I needed one.

Today’s Republican Party is a vile and loathsome thing.

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Recommended Viewing 0

Whale Rider.

If you can find it. watch it.

It is an excellent movie.

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From Pine View Farm
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