From Pine View Farm

Too Venal for Words category archive

Virtual Unreality 0

This looks like a clear case of date-and-switch:

The US Federal Trade Commission has decided to add Ashley Madison’s “fembots” to the company’s long list of woes.

The existence of the fembots – fake profiles used to keep men on the “Life is short, have an affair” forking out funds in case they got lucky – was revealed after the infamous hack of the site. . . .

At its worst, the site was accused of having just 1 per cent of “real women” among its members: the rest of its female profiles were fembots.

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Mail Bagman 0

No doubt you’ve seen stories about Donald Trump’s campaign soliciting money from foreign politicians (which directly violates US law, by the by).

Now comes Driftglass with the text* of one of those emails.

_________________

*Purported text, to be accurate.

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Unfiltered 0

Pig:  Goat says that you had surgery to remove the filter between your brain and your mouth..  Rat:  Yes, a fiterectomy.  Pig:  Has anyone else had this surgery.  Rat:  Yes, one peron.  Image:  Rat watching voice come out of television saying,

Click to see the image at its original location.

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Twits on Twitter 0

Twits who watch the Miss USA Contest.

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Judged Lynch 0

Words fail me.

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Twenty Minutes 0

Woman to California Judge Persky:  Your lenient sentience in the Stanford rape case has inspirted a petition that could end your career.  Judge:  That's unfair.  Rendering that sentence was only 20 minutes of action.

Click to see the image at its original location.

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Nor Any Drop To Drink, Reprise 2

Retail beverage bottled water is a con and a scam.

It is one of the pettest of my pet peeves.

Graphic about bottled water: Think before you drink:  the environmental cost of bottled water. 200 billion bottles of water are consumed globally each year. Of them, 176 billion will end up in the water.  200X more expensive than tap water:  it takes three times the volume of water to manufacture the plastic for one bottle than it does to fill it. There are 1500 water bottles consumed per second in the USA.  1n 2011 (peak year) American drank, on the average, 131 bottles of water per person while in Britain, 200 million bottles are consumed per year.   17,000,000 barrels of oil are used per year to manufacture bottled water.  Pumping, processing, transportation, and refrigeration of bottled water is estimated to use around 50 million barrels of oil per year.  10% of all plastic manufactured worldwide ends up in the ocean, never degrading.  1.2 billion people around the world don't have access to clean water, yet we are happy to pay over the odds for branded water.  The corporatisation of water:  Water is being called the "Blue Gold" of the 21st century. . . . Multinational corporations are stepping in to purchase groundwater and distribution rights whenever the can . . . in their drive to commoditise what many feel is a basic human right--the access to safe and affordable water. What can you do? Avoid bottled water. If you are concerned about the taste or quality of your local tap water, install a filtered cold water tap. Buy a reusable bottle. Pick up and recycle plastic bottles. Think before you drink.


Click for the original image.

H/T to reader James for the image.

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Birds of a Feather 0

Pharma Bro endorses Trump.

The story speaks for itself. There is nothing to add.

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A Record of Suckcess 0

Via Delaware Liberal.

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The Hollow Men* 0

I believe I’ve mentioned before in these electrons that the decay of our society accelerated when everything became “a brand.” Emphasizing “branding” ipso facto is fascination with flackery, admiration of appearances, worship at the holy of hollowness.

At Psychology Today Blogs, Dale Hartley skewers the notion of “personal brands.” A snippet:

Is your “personal brand” who you are, really, when you’re not working or looking for work? If not, then it’s just a false front.

__________________

*With apologies to T. S. Eliot.

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Facebook Frolics 0

“Get thee behind me, peasants!” sayeth the Techbro.

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The Tinder Trap 0

Men are pigs.

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A Picture Is Worth 0

Piccture of Donald Trump and some of his prominent supports will callouts list incidents of odious behavior on their and Trump's conduct.


Click for a larger image.

Via Kiko’s House.

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Facebook Frolics 0

The Mother of All Frolics.

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A Quantum of Justice 0

Shaun Mullen points out that it’s about damned time.

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A Matter of Time 0

Portland, Maine, has come out with a new logo which states that Portland was founded in 1633, despite it’s having been founded a year earlier. When someone complained, stupid followed.

Chris Busby picks up the story:

So, on Oct. 13, the ever-helpful Schechter (of his own volition, not representing the library) sent an email to Casey Gilbert, Portland Downtown’s new executive director, in which he pointed out the error and politely requested that it be corrected. Gilbert’s response, which Schechter shared with me, was likewise polite, but also resolute in its assertion that the date will not be changed.

The “logic” behind Portland Downtown’s decision is that the logo is a marketing tool, and as such, like most corporate advertising these days, it need bear no relation to facts, history or reality. “While historians may not agree with our logic,” Gilbert wrote to Schechter, “we were really looking at the new brand/logo as a marketing piece and something that people would want to have on tote bags, t-shirts, postcards…”

Suggested debate topic:

    Resolved: That the United States began to go to directly to Hell, without passing “GO” and without collecting $200, the moment that everything became all about the “Brand.”

Follow the link for more.

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Dog of the Hair 0

Horrible people.

Makayla Fallaw loves tumbling and cheering. She also loves her naturally thick, curly hair. But the 11-year-old was told to leave her cheerleading team when her mother said she couldn’t straighten Makayla’s hair to match the rest of the girls for a competition.

(snip)

Most of the girls on the ages 8 to 16 team are white, with naturally straight hair, and Makayla is Hispanic and biracial. In the conversations about styling, Kevin Tonner, the program’s all-star cheer director, told Fallaw, “I know other mixed kids and you can put relaxer in her hair,” Fallaw recalled.

Relaxer isn’t the right tool for Makayla’s hair, and Fallaw didn’t want to damage it with heavy heat or chemicals.

Read up on what’s in hair relaxers. Maybe Mr. Tonner should try drinking some to straighten himself out some himself before recommending them so casually.

Furrfu.

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Men Are Pigs 0

It is not proper to go about smacking women on the behind without having permission aforetimes.

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Cake 0

Cheesecake, that is.

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Setting the Bar beyond the Pale 0

More stuff you can’t make up.

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