The new LL Bean catalog arrived a couple of days ago. The front cover has a mixed-race, homosexual couple holding hands walking on the beach. It prompted some questions for me.
Why does LL Bean need to send the message “We gladly accept homosexual money”?
Why does LL Bean need to send the message “We gladly accept money from mixed-race couples”?
What has LL Bean done in its past that it feels the need to pander to homosexuals and mixed-race couples now? Did it screen customer in the past to ensure that its products were only being bought and worn by heterosexual, racially pure people? Did it cancel orders that had a San Francisco address?
How unaware is LL Bean of its surroundings that it would kowtow to the woke crowd which can never be appeased, never forgives any transgression (imagined or otherwise), and is perpetually outraged?
It risks annoying or angering a far larger portion of the population than it attracts by virtue signaling. That’s not a good bet, so why take the gamble?
When I ran my business I turned the “OPEN” sign on and unlocked the doors, happily welcoming anyone who came through the door, as long as it was someone wanting to conduct business. I’d wager most business owners are of the same mind. In this day and age, if you’re not, you’ll find yourself on YouTube in a second.
Windbag,
Well, LLB is a New England based company so probably more left oriented. They have an entire page crowing about their DEI…sigh…
As to why these companies are doing this, I have no idea. I’m not in any way a business person. From the outside looking in, it appears to me that the corporate mantra is “go woke, or go broke” rather than the opposite. Given the almost 50-50 divide in the US now, maybe they think they have to appease the left or lose a large portion of their customer base.
Used to deal with LLB when dress shirts were an issue. Liked doing business with them. Once, the newly arrived 17 1/2 36 button down didn’t fit. Went back and forth, eventually sent them my oldest, demonstrating the new one was about 3/4 inches short in the sleeve. They refunded my money and shortly, had a 37 sleeve, fitting me.
Cheating on fabric doesn’t sound likely, since every one would be returned. Maybe the head of the production in some Thai factory held out the pattern and muttered something about monkeys.
Their ad pictures were pretty interesting. The lighting was modified so that it always seemed, as in northern New England, about half an hour from sweater weather, swim suits on display notwithstanding.
I think they missed part of their market; the guy who thinks this is convenient, not bad quality and price is okay so there’s no reason not to continue. But those three items are available elsewhere as well and, being only slightly connected, he can switch with no downside.
The occasional guy, not the collector or the brand loyalist, is more easily lost. I wonder if the gay or mixed-race-couple community will think this new approach is welcoming or condescending pandering. In either case, is it going to offset the loss of the occasional guy who’s being, in effect, told he’s not socially and morally good enough?
windbag et al.: Somewhere along the line L.L. Bean decided to ignore the demographics of Freeport, Maine (pop. 8,737 as of 2020), where its flagship store is located, in order for its catalog models to look something more like a cross-section of the better-off population of San Francisco.
According to Wikipedia, “The racial makeup of [Freeport] was 95.2% White, 0.6% African American, 0.4% Native American, 2.3% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.1% of the population.” Yet to see the latest L.L. Bean catalog, you’d think the town is at least a third Black, a quarter Hispanic, and about 10% Asian. The other nod in the direction of wokeness is the number of models who are not just plump but frankly obese.
I’ll give the company this much, though– they’ve never used models with Hollywood good looks but rather people who are pleasant-looking but unglamorous. They also used forty- or even fifty-something models back when being inclusive of older adults was unusual. I remember a photo from a few years back that showed a middle-aged guy with a “dad bod” tying up a canoe at a dock (he was modeling Bermuda shorts), and you could tell he was partly bald. The 99.9% of us who are not superstars in the looks department could identify with these “imperfect” models and be more willing to try the products they were wearing or using. Anyway, it’s sad to see that L.L. Bean has gone woke.
It’s sad to see companies do this. Years ago I left my online spice provider because the proprietor kept putting out blatantly offensive newsletters and emails. He’s still doing it, and still in business.
Kate
People have an unlimited ability to compartmentalize to get what they want.
PA+Cat,
Just out of curiosity, I looked at LLB’s first page of women’s clothing and counted models. There didn’t seem to be any male models in the men’s section. Just on the first page there were 35 model pictures; 40% black, 37% white, 20% asian.
Not surprising. Just watching commercials on TV one would think the majority of the US is black, with Hispanic a close second and whites a distinct minority.
Again, all this corporate wokeness must have some profit incentive; I’m just not sure what it could be. Maybe inoculation against discrimination lawsuits???
Every so often, we need to be reminded how pernicious the deep state was trying to destroy President Trump. Looking at the masks, this was sometime in 2020.
‘S.PYING IS A BIG DEAL’ Jim Jordan DESTROYS Obama after Barr confirms Clinton’ s.pying against Trump
I think cb nailed it– it’s worry about the company’s ESG score.
In regard to Kate’s comment about a spice company, I think she is referring to Penzeys Spices. The owner of the company frequently posts rants about Republicans being racists; he spent $92,000 on a pro-impeachment ad against Trump in 2019.
A Penzeys Spices insider says founder and CEO Bill Penzey’s frequent left-wing rants in emails to customers have lost the company more than half of its retail business over the past five years. “It’s been devastating,” explains the insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “In 2017, our retail operations department flat out said that Bill’s attacks had cost the company 50 percent of our customers.”
It amazes me that after all this time and thousands upon thousands of such incidents that most conservatives still don’t get it.
”It risks annoying or angering a far larger portion of the population than it attracts by virtue signaling. That’s not a good bet, so why take the gamble?”
THEY HATE YOU! They hate you, your culture, and everything you stand for, and they want to destroy it all.
They’re rubbing your nose in their contempt for you, but you keep on giving them your money.
PA Cat, yup, I used to patronize Penzeys. I am glad to hear he lost 50% of his customers. This should not have surprised him. He deserves it. Even my friend in central Raleigh, walking distance from a Penzey’s store, gave up after his latest rant.
As with LL Bean, the best plan would be to sell to anyone who wants your product, to advertise in a way that does not exclude anyone or annoy customers, and then donate from your profits to the causes of your choice.
mkent said: “THEY HATE YOU!”
Exactly, their lack of empathy leaves you as an object to be removed.
In his recent interview with Tucker, Elon commented that the flow of reality of late has trended toward “entertaining” (counterintuitive) outcomes. The “entertained”, in his context, are hypothetically objective outside observers, such as aliens or movie goers. Those directly involved in the dramas find it less entertaining. Wokism, transgenderism, election fraud, etc, bear that out.
The L. L. Bean explanation may be very simple. Can you spell “shakedown”? — conceived by The Reverend Jesse Jackson and perfected by The Reverend Al Sharpton.
And all say AMEN . . .
The ESG score is evil. Of course the Ds love. Thank God DeSantis has limited it in Florida.
tucker reminded us of the heavens gate cult, which was riven with gender confusion pagan sentiments and raw insanity, we know where that ended up,
In World War Woke, wokes are actively in the field of combat. Led by transgender shock troops, they’ve encountered minimal resistance, and are consolidating vast chunks of institutional power. Presently, transitioning youth is their most aggressively active front.
Penzey’s sister runs a competing spice company that does not traffic in political rants. Buy your spices from her.
Patty Erd, Bill Penzey’s sister, sold her business about five years ago.
its relatively lucrative to behave this way, although world controller fink, sold 7% of his black rock holding just this week, so did the other big mutual fund player,
I didn’t know the Penzey daughter had sold the business. Sounds like the new owners are continuing in the right direction.
Fortunately for me, another chain, Savory Spice, https://www.savoryspiceshop.com, has a store not too far from me, and they are satisfactory.
Look up trans shooter on Google and check out the first twenty results.
Call me Ishmael … or something.
Every 2-3 years I check the Rolling Stone Best 100n*x lists and they keep getting more Woke.
For Best Singers of All Time, the top 10 are all black except Mariah Carey. I guess they had to have a token white singer, but … Mariah Carey?
And the next white singer after Carey at #12 is … John Lennon? At least Patsy Cline came in #13,
Aretha Franklin scored #1 and I’ve got no kicks against Aretha, but as far as I’m concerned head-to-head and voice-to-voice Annie Lennox (Eurythmics) took her down, not just on looks, when they shared a stage:
Tech today is largely a game played between giants who, if they see promising technology, simply acquire it. Tech entrepreneur turned author Antonio García Martínez has called the contemporary [Silicon] Valley “feudalism with better marketing,” a “highly stratified” quasi-medieval society “with little social mobility.”
Once upon a time tech people (mostly white guys) put a man on the moon, created the internet and wired the planet.
Heigh-ho, halcyon days.
huxley:
Mariah Carey: mother Irish, father half black and half Venezuelan. See this.
neo:
Well. That explains it. So no standard whites at all in the top ten singers.
No Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Bono, Mick Jagger, Robert Plant, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury. Johnny Cash, Celine Dion, Stevie Nicks, Roy Orbison, Karen Carpenter…
I guess they don’t got game.
Not even a Gibb brother, for that matter.
I’m taking this Saturday night off from French films to watch “The Blob” (1958).
Geez, “The Blob” has made it to the “Criterion Collection”! The ABQ library has a ton of Criterion films and I’m working my way through them.
“The Blob” was Steve McQueen’s first lead role. He’s too old to play a teenager, but he manages all right. Sure, it’s cheese, but put it on a burger and grab a beer.
It’s silly — rowdy teens come together to save their town and ultimately the planet from the Creeping Alien Menace — but well-shot and even oddly moving at moments.
One may contemplate the Cold War subtext. But Steve McQueen! (Oh, I said that already.)
***Trigger warning***
Someone passes on in my following, true story.
A friend of mine, he’s sort of an uncle to me.
A few years ago, his: loving, kind, happy, + fun wife, who he had been married to, for 40+ years, passed on.
He had [a joint credit card], with his wife, from LL Bean.
A few months after she passed on, he tried to order shirts…over the phone, using his LL Bean card. They declined his card.
He had had this card for over 15 years.
When he called to ask why they didn’t accept his card/LL Bean account, they said, I’m paraphrasing:
“Oh NO! Your wife had the MAIN account with us, + YOUR account was just a [rider account] on it. So we’ve cancelled your card and your account.
If you want to order from our company again,…you’ll have to apply for a new LL Bean card.”
That is just heartless.
He doesn’t do business with them,…and because of the bad way they have treated him, and I won’t buy things from them, ever again.
Does LL Bean have the cachet it once did?
This is not exactly about French, but … now that I’ve sort of got a second language, I’m shocked at the liberties translators take.
I knew translating is inevitably a sausage-making business. I was content to live with that. Put it in a bun, slap some mustard and relish on and I’ll eat it.
But now that I am reading Real French as well as the English it became or came from, I am shocked, shocked by how these casinos are run.
I’m still on the French Harry Potter 1, but I am an adult and I am aware that life is not all magic spells, evil sorcerers and flying broom sports. So I’ve started Camus’s “The Stranger” in the original French.
OMG. If you read “The Stranger” back then, you read the Stuart Gilbert translation that I read. Impressive, searing, but not exactly what Albert Camus wrote.
Camus wrote in a very stripped-down, hard-boiled language, straight out of American detective stories and film noir.
Gilbert embroidered “The Stranger” into a British novel. He flat added detail nowhere present in Camus’s French. The result was admirable, but disloyal to the source.
Translation must always fail, but some are still better than others. I’ll take something closer to a literal translation than a translator’s judgment.
I tell you, I’m shocked!
1. Thanks for the heads-up about LL Bean. As a long-term expat I rely on old brands and don’t always get the background vibes. I will shop elsewhere for outdoor activewear – although much of that sector is pitched to tree-huggers.
2. Translation: I have done a fair amount of it. It is pretty easy to get close in most prose. No excuse for embroidery.
I read a few Harry Potters in Hebrew, They did a good job despite not having any cultural references anywhere near English boarding schools or European witchcraft. Sometimes the translator had to baldly narrate what a character was feeling, rather than translate a spoken phrase that better expressed it – but had no equivalent in Hebrew.
It’s Sunday, Open Thread, Russo-Ukraine war related.
Who is Japan concerned about enough to spend lots of cash on national defense?
The CCP.
Oops, another one of Vlad’s unintended consequences.
But, but, but, NATO.
Japanese Defence Strategy & Rearmament – Japan’s ambitious plans & lessons from Ukraine – Perun
Timestamp:
00:00:00 — Japanese Rearmament
00:01:38 — What Am I Talking About?
00:02:41 — Historical Development
00:15:07 — Japan’s Strategic Position
00:21:43 — The JSDF
00:34:13 — Industry & Systems
00:38:18 — Japanese Strategic Thinking
00:43:01 — Building Up The JSDF
00:59:41 — An Alliance Driven Force
01:06:05 — Challenges & Options
01:11:41 — Conclusions
01:12:32 — Channel Update
On translation: The original language almost always has a flavor which cannot be perfectly translated. Like most American Christians, for example, I cannot read either Hebrew or the Greek of the Christian scriptures; I must rely on translations, and prefer ones that are as nearly literal translations as possible. I have been told to look at Psalm 1. If it says, “Blessed is the man …” it’s probably a fairly literal translation. If if says, “Blessed is the one …” it is one which is being “interpreted” for modern ears.
Translation also has to deal with–or perhaps be resigned to–changes in a language over time.
“cried” as in “spoke out excitedly” is become less common. While it may still be in the dictionary, its common use and common understanding is diminishing. The same is true for other words and phrases, if only the nuances or underlying meanings.
“repair” in the meaning of go to a place of…security or comfort is archaic, as is “congress” to refer to sexual activity.
Bad enough for an editor seeking to update something, tougher for a translator who needs to know the references in each language.
My wife read Harry Potter in Spanish. Hagrid spoke Standard Spanish and lost much characterization in that way. Whether there was a rural Spanish available, I have no idea, but if so, the translator chose not to use it. “chose” being the operative word. Point is, a native speaker of Standard Spanish wouldn’t know what was missing when reading it.
that intriguing since you think of hagrid with a scottish accent, there isn’t a comparable sister dialect in Spanish, galicia and catalan are far afield, basque doesn’t resemble any other dialect,
I have been doing research on the Austrian Army for a board game project. As such I have been reading a lot of archaic Austrian-German and had to do a bit of searching around to determine the meaning. One that still has me puzzled is Genie. It is use in Genie Waffe, K. K. General-Genie-Direction and units like 6. Genie Bataillon. Translates as genius or wizard. Also around 1903 Corps-Commando becomes Korpskommando.
Chases Eagles: Genie = Military Engineers. In the Swiss and K.u.K. (Austro-Hungarian) armies. From the French.
If you’re interested in the Austro-Hungarian Army circa WWI, got a movie for you: “Colonel Redl” (1985), with Klaus Maria Brandauer in the title role. Also Austrian TV productions of Joseph Roth’s 1932 novel “Radetzkymarsch” from 1965 and 1995:
Hubert, as Chases Eagles wrote, “genie” does, literally mean “genius” in German (spoken with a hard “g”).
Are you saying Germans also call their equivalent of the Army Corps of Engineers “GENIE?” Is that an acronym for something, like NAZI or SS?
RTF–
From what I could find out, the usual German term for military engineers in general is Pioniertruppe, a feminine noun. They refer to our Army Corps of Engineers as das Pionierkorps der U.S. Army. I couldn’t find anything about Genie that made sense in a military context– it may be an Austrian thing.
Apropos of the Austrian army– Chases Eagles might be interested to know that the soldiers of Napoleon’s Grande Armée developed an extensive vocabulary of military slang that included terms for their opponents: British soldiers were les Goddams or les Rosbifs; the Austrians were les autres chiens, literally “the other dogs,” a pun on Autrichiens.
If you and Chases Eagles like this sort of thing (huxley might want to give a listen too), there is a march of the Napoleonic era called the Chanson de l’Oignon (“Song of the Onion”), which originated during Napoleon’s Italian campaign. The story is that the Emperor saw some of his grenadiers rubbing onions on their bread before battle. He supposedly said to them that “there is nothing better than an onion for marching on the road to glory.” The third stanza of the song contains the pun on “Austrians” described above:
But no onions for the Austrians,
No onions for all those dogs
No onions for the Austrians,
No onions, no onions
Here is a video of the song with English subtitles switched on. The French soldiers are WWI poilus rather than Napoleonic-era reenactors, but you can’t have everything:
As PA+Cat says, the German army term for combat engineers is Pioniere. I lived not far from a Bundeswehr Pionierschule in a suburb of Munich in the 1980s. They must have been practicing blowing stuff up, because I could hear the occasional dull thud or crump from my apartment balcony.
I wonder if the Onion Song inspired the French Foreign Legion’s anthem, “Le boudin” (The Blood Sausage):
No mention of the autres chiens/Austrians–the Belgians are the ones who get the rap in that song. No boudin for them: “None for the Belgians/None for the Belgians/They’re a bunch of shirkers”.
Another song for Huxley is “La Madelon”, a French WWI standard:
miguel.
Thanks for the input. I don’t suppose a lower-class version with poor grammar and whatever passes in Spanish for incorrect verb agreement or mass/fem confusion would have the desired effect. That wasn’t Hagrid.
Speaking of Galicia, more or less, doing some Bible study involving the Galatians, one of the Celtic peoples who, when they came into Greece and fought the Persians with the Greeks had a reputation. If prisoners and enslaved in Persian possessions, only one per township–whatever they called such a thing–because they were too much trouble.
Are the Galicians culturally distinct in Spain?
I wonder if Paul were ever exasperated in dealing with their Turkish cousins.
Translation: I have done a fair amount of it. It is pretty easy to get close in most prose. No excuse for embroidery.
Ben David:
Quite so. When I say translation fails, I mean it fails perfection. But I agree getting close is mostly not that hard. I complain when the translator seems to have ambitions to improve on the original.
I’m also not sympathetic to the notion of coming up with cultural equivalents in the target language. I don’t want Sherlock Holmes turned into a super computer security wizard in Silicon Valley because AC Doyle might be “translated” for a 21st century American audience.
I am disappointed that Stuart Gilbert, who was no less than a close literary associate of James Joyce and wrote the first good commentary on “Ulysses” (which I cut my teeth on) as well as its official French translation, handled Camus’ “The Stranger” as he did.
Another song for Huxley is “La Madelon”, a French WWI standard:
Hubert:
Wonderful! I’ve never heard it. I continue to be happily surprised by how much great French culture I’m getting to by learning French.
In my usual discursive manner “La Madelon” reminds me of that irresistible 70s hit, “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass, about a bar maid in a sailor’s bar who gets hit on by all the guys but turns them down because she’s in love with a sailor who hasn’t returned.
I looked it up on the web and there is now a video using a delightful animated cartoon to put the song across. Worthwhile if you are a fan of the song.
Another French military song you might like is “Auprès de ma blonde,” composed in 1704 shortly after Louis XIV’s war with the Dutch; the young wife in the lyrics refers to her husband as a POW in the Netherlands. The song was revived during the Napoleonic period and has been used as a military march ever since. Lyrics:
Dans les jardins de mon père,
Les lilas sont fleuris ;
Dans les jardins de mon père,
Les lilas sont fleuris ;
Tous les oiseaux du monde
Viennent y faire leurs nids …
{Refrain:}
Auprès de ma blonde,
Qu’il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon.
Auprès de ma blonde,
Qu’il fait bon dormir !
La caille, la tourterelle
Et la jolie perdrix
La caille, la tourterelle
Et la jolie perdrix
Et ma jolie colombe,
Qui chante jour et nuit…
{au Refrain}
Elle chante pour les filles
Qui n’ont pas de mari.
Elle chante pour les filles
Qui n’ont pas de mari.
Pour moi ne chante guère,
Car j’en ai un joli…
{au Refrain}
“Dites-moi donc la belle,
Où donc est votre mari ? ”
“Dites-moi donc la belle,
Où donc est votre mari ? ”
Il est dans la Hollande,
Les Hollandais l’ont pris.
{au Refrain}
Que donneriez-vous, belle,
Pour avoir votre ami ?
Que donneriez-vous, belle,
Pour avoir votre ami ?
Je donnerais Versailles,
Paris et Saint-Denis.
{au Refrain}
Les tours de Notre-Dame
Et le clocher de mon pays,
Les tours de Notre-Dame
Et le clocher de mon pays,
Et ma jolie colombe,
Pour avoir mon mari.
Yes, it’s long, but it makes a good drinking song as well as a march. You can listen to it here:
One interesting example of its contemporary use: the band of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) has an official quick march that combines “Auprès de ma blonde” with “Lilliburlero”:
That one I believe I’ve heard. The “Qu’il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon” refrain sounds familiar. Quite fun! And I do like a tin whistle in the right spot.
I notice they sing the final e’s — blonde, belle, colombe, etc. are all sung with two syllables — which is not current Standard French.
I think the final e’s were lost before 1704 in Parisian French but I notice in modern songs the final e’s may still be pronounced so the lines will scan (as is necessary in this song).
I’m still working out French pronunciation. Not simple. At least I’m not learning English!
RFK Jr’s vocal condition is called spasmodic dysphonia. I don’t know if he’s had it treated or not, but its severity reminds me of radio talk show host Diane Rehm’s condition years ago. Hers was every bit as bad as RFK Jr’s, but she got effectively treated for it. I’m pleasantly surprised by how good she sounds in a post treatment video.
RFK Jr has apparently had similar treatments, but not as effective as Rehm’s.
Aside from several Liberal shibboleth’s, which surprised me (but I suppose shouldn’t have), RFK Jr. makes sense, to me at least, on some key issues, particularly the vast, intricate and toxic Covid scandal and the extremely parlous state—being kind here—of the Democratic Party, in which he MUST SURELY understand would have to necessarily ostracize both his father and his uncle in its current incarnation.
Actually, the current state of power politics generally, and the go-for-broke power play enacted by the party with which he still seems to be affiliated.
The problem for him (and for any other opponents of “Biden”) is that the only way Obama will be able to serve his fourth term is for Biden to be reelected in 2024.
Which TELLS me—the way things have been going in the 2020 and 2022 “elections”—that Biden MUST BE REELECTED…and therefore WILL BE.
(Short version: Obama & Co. is SO CLOSE to destroying the country that he will refuse to be denied this “thing” that he adopted as his mission and his fate: His DESTINY.)
Toilets, self check-out and phones, OH MY!
Well…—to paraphrase Travis Bickle—“Suck on this!”….
“Taibbi: News Blackout In Effect”— https://www.zerohedge.com/political/taibbi-news-blackout-effect
(That is, WRT the Biden/Blinken/Garland/Morell MEGA-SCANDAL, which is being deep-sixed (as expected) by the Democratic Party’s Mega-Corrupt Media Praetorian Guard.)
Opening graf:
“An all-time media blackout is in effect. We’re experiencing real-time Sovietization….”
Brought to you by “Nothing-To-See-Here-Move-Right-Along”, Inc.
(To be fair, we’ve been experiencing this kind of Sovietization for quite a while now.
And so, indeed (alas), to be expected…, since, as mentioned above, the stakes are so sky high…)
As regards Bud Lite and myriad other cases:
First, I favor beer with twist-off caps. I avoid light beers unless they’re the closest when I open the refrigerator. I get annoyed listening to a couple of guys talking as if they’re a brew version of top-end wine conoycers.
So I don’t have a beer in this fight.
I haven’t seen the ad. I haven’t seen the beer.
I wonder if the ad would have gone away had it not been for the condescending “fratty and out of touch” observations.
As a general rule, most of us can tolerate; intellectually, at a distance, theoretically, in good faith, a number of items without losing the ICK! response when it’s shoved in our faces.
Is the trans community attempting to generate a response resulting from near-infinite multiplications of ICK! encounters?
What is the public reaction supposed to be when a state passes laws effectively allowing for the kidnapping and mutilation of minor children without their parents’ consent?
I am only half way through these comments. Your contributions make this a fun, rich, and screen cap worthy resource.
om on Japan and rebuilding defense in light of Ukraine. On YT – added to my watch list! Thanks.
The reason we ought to shoot wokies like Zombies is that they are the same menace and can be dispatched similarly — with head shots.
huxley on translations. It is true. Camus reads like stripped down hard boiled prose…. How rich – and attitudinally speaking apres pos. How like, say, James Dean. This insight raises Camus’s stature to me. Refining his voice.
And h on movie notes – always interesting to hear what your watching.
Finally, banned lizard writes “In World War Woke, wokes are actively in the field of combat. Led by transgender shock troops, they’ve encountered minimal resistance, and are consolidating vast chunks of institutional power. Presently, transitioning youth is their most aggressively active front.”
How true. How wittily put. Your World War Woke borrows from history and builds on popular film culture like “World War Z”, for with “Z” for Zombies – the undead aggressively reanimated by a virus, threatening to kill all of humanity.
We’ve been waiting on a suitable movie sequel, but I’m calling the prospect dead.
The symmetries between the Woke Mind Virus, as Gad Saad has put it, and this SF End-of-The World story is righteously correct.
On YT, I posted a remark that We ought to “shoot Woke Zombies.” Both for the same reason: both eat up living brains by the undead.
My angry “Shoot Woke Zombies” post garnered a commendation to me by Jordan Peterson (as well as an invite!) on YT. I’m pleased to find out that he reads and reacts to comments, given his very frequent and huge number of video interview uploads.
That is precisely where we’re at, banned lizard. I really thank for your painful but artfully humored addition to acknowledging our declining times. Your thought-provoking paragraph is saved to my device.
(Auto-corrected and deleted FINAL sentenc…as edit time ended…RRRGH)
The simile that Wokies are very much, too much, like Zombies is that both eat brains and threaten humanity, yet both can be dispatched and defeated the same way — via head shots (whether literally or metaphorically).
Hi, Kate. Check out the LXX Psalter translation from Holy Transfiguration Monastery. I pray from it whenever I have the option.
I’ll look for it, Philip Sells. I use a traditional English book, which I love, but the Coverdale Psalter does have some problems for the modern ear.
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The new LL Bean catalog arrived a couple of days ago. The front cover has a mixed-race, homosexual couple holding hands walking on the beach. It prompted some questions for me.
Why does LL Bean need to send the message “We gladly accept homosexual money”?
Why does LL Bean need to send the message “We gladly accept money from mixed-race couples”?
What has LL Bean done in its past that it feels the need to pander to homosexuals and mixed-race couples now? Did it screen customer in the past to ensure that its products were only being bought and worn by heterosexual, racially pure people? Did it cancel orders that had a San Francisco address?
How unaware is LL Bean of its surroundings that it would kowtow to the woke crowd which can never be appeased, never forgives any transgression (imagined or otherwise), and is perpetually outraged?
It risks annoying or angering a far larger portion of the population than it attracts by virtue signaling. That’s not a good bet, so why take the gamble?
When I ran my business I turned the “OPEN” sign on and unlocked the doors, happily welcoming anyone who came through the door, as long as it was someone wanting to conduct business. I’d wager most business owners are of the same mind. In this day and age, if you’re not, you’ll find yourself on YouTube in a second.
Windbag,
Well, LLB is a New England based company so probably more left oriented. They have an entire page crowing about their DEI…sigh…
https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/518345?nav=ftlink-516917
As to why these companies are doing this, I have no idea. I’m not in any way a business person. From the outside looking in, it appears to me that the corporate mantra is “go woke, or go broke” rather than the opposite. Given the almost 50-50 divide in the US now, maybe they think they have to appease the left or lose a large portion of their customer base.
Used to deal with LLB when dress shirts were an issue. Liked doing business with them. Once, the newly arrived 17 1/2 36 button down didn’t fit. Went back and forth, eventually sent them my oldest, demonstrating the new one was about 3/4 inches short in the sleeve. They refunded my money and shortly, had a 37 sleeve, fitting me.
Cheating on fabric doesn’t sound likely, since every one would be returned. Maybe the head of the production in some Thai factory held out the pattern and muttered something about monkeys.
Their ad pictures were pretty interesting. The lighting was modified so that it always seemed, as in northern New England, about half an hour from sweater weather, swim suits on display notwithstanding.
I think they missed part of their market; the guy who thinks this is convenient, not bad quality and price is okay so there’s no reason not to continue. But those three items are available elsewhere as well and, being only slightly connected, he can switch with no downside.
The occasional guy, not the collector or the brand loyalist, is more easily lost. I wonder if the gay or mixed-race-couple community will think this new approach is welcoming or condescending pandering. In either case, is it going to offset the loss of the occasional guy who’s being, in effect, told he’s not socially and morally good enough?
windbag et al.: Somewhere along the line L.L. Bean decided to ignore the demographics of Freeport, Maine (pop. 8,737 as of 2020), where its flagship store is located, in order for its catalog models to look something more like a cross-section of the better-off population of San Francisco.
According to Wikipedia, “The racial makeup of [Freeport] was 95.2% White, 0.6% African American, 0.4% Native American, 2.3% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.1% of the population.” Yet to see the latest L.L. Bean catalog, you’d think the town is at least a third Black, a quarter Hispanic, and about 10% Asian. The other nod in the direction of wokeness is the number of models who are not just plump but frankly obese.
I’ll give the company this much, though– they’ve never used models with Hollywood good looks but rather people who are pleasant-looking but unglamorous. They also used forty- or even fifty-something models back when being inclusive of older adults was unusual. I remember a photo from a few years back that showed a middle-aged guy with a “dad bod” tying up a canoe at a dock (he was modeling Bermuda shorts), and you could tell he was partly bald. The 99.9% of us who are not superstars in the looks department could identify with these “imperfect” models and be more willing to try the products they were wearing or using. Anyway, it’s sad to see that L.L. Bean has gone woke.
It’s sad to see companies do this. Years ago I left my online spice provider because the proprietor kept putting out blatantly offensive newsletters and emails. He’s still doing it, and still in business.
Kate
People have an unlimited ability to compartmentalize to get what they want.
PA+Cat,
Just out of curiosity, I looked at LLB’s first page of women’s clothing and counted models. There didn’t seem to be any male models in the men’s section. Just on the first page there were 35 model pictures; 40% black, 37% white, 20% asian.
Not surprising. Just watching commercials on TV one would think the majority of the US is black, with Hispanic a close second and whites a distinct minority.
Again, all this corporate wokeness must have some profit incentive; I’m just not sure what it could be. Maybe inoculation against discrimination lawsuits???
LLB may be taking a knee to the all-important ESG Score – ‘go woke or be shunned’, sorta.
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/esg/esg-score/
Every so often, we need to be reminded how pernicious the deep state was trying to destroy President Trump. Looking at the masks, this was sometime in 2020.
‘S.PYING IS A BIG DEAL’ Jim Jordan DESTROYS Obama after Barr confirms Clinton’ s.pying against Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzgRJBUmwEY
physicsguy–
I think cb nailed it– it’s worry about the company’s ESG score.
In regard to Kate’s comment about a spice company, I think she is referring to Penzeys Spices. The owner of the company frequently posts rants about Republicans being racists; he spent $92,000 on a pro-impeachment ad against Trump in 2019.
A Penzeys Spices insider says founder and CEO Bill Penzey’s frequent left-wing rants in emails to customers have lost the company more than half of its retail business over the past five years. “It’s been devastating,” explains the insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “In 2017, our retail operations department flat out said that Bill’s attacks had cost the company 50 percent of our customers.”
https://newstalk1130.iheart.com/featured/common-sense-central/content/2022-02-01-penzeys-insider-says-ceos-left-wing-rants-are-devastating-company/
It amazes me that after all this time and thousands upon thousands of such incidents that most conservatives still don’t get it.
”It risks annoying or angering a far larger portion of the population than it attracts by virtue signaling. That’s not a good bet, so why take the gamble?”
THEY HATE YOU! They hate you, your culture, and everything you stand for, and they want to destroy it all.
They’re rubbing your nose in their contempt for you, but you keep on giving them your money.
PA Cat, yup, I used to patronize Penzeys. I am glad to hear he lost 50% of his customers. This should not have surprised him. He deserves it. Even my friend in central Raleigh, walking distance from a Penzey’s store, gave up after his latest rant.
As with LL Bean, the best plan would be to sell to anyone who wants your product, to advertise in a way that does not exclude anyone or annoy customers, and then donate from your profits to the causes of your choice.
mkent said: “THEY HATE YOU!”
Exactly, their lack of empathy leaves you as an object to be removed.
In his recent interview with Tucker, Elon commented that the flow of reality of late has trended toward “entertaining” (counterintuitive) outcomes. The “entertained”, in his context, are hypothetically objective outside observers, such as aliens or movie goers. Those directly involved in the dramas find it less entertaining. Wokism, transgenderism, election fraud, etc, bear that out.
In the words of Patanjali,
The seen exists only for the sake of the Seer (Swami Satchidananda translation).
We’ve seen this show before?
https://www.revolver.news/2023/04/tranissaries-transgender-movement-striking-parallels-ottoman-empire/
cb-
They hate your cultural underpinnings too-
https://www.dailywire.com/news/revival-and-reformation-is-needed-canadian-pastors-sound-off-on-new-law-that-threatens-to-criminalize-evangelism
windbag and others . . .
The L. L. Bean explanation may be very simple. Can you spell “shakedown”? — conceived by The Reverend Jesse Jackson and perfected by The Reverend Al Sharpton.
And all say AMEN . . .
The ESG score is evil. Of course the Ds love. Thank God DeSantis has limited it in Florida.
tucker reminded us of the heavens gate cult, which was riven with gender confusion pagan sentiments and raw insanity, we know where that ended up,
In World War Woke, wokes are actively in the field of combat. Led by transgender shock troops, they’ve encountered minimal resistance, and are consolidating vast chunks of institutional power. Presently, transitioning youth is their most aggressively active front.
Penzey’s sister runs a competing spice company that does not traffic in political rants. Buy your spices from her.
Patty Erd, Bill Penzey’s sister, sold her business about five years ago.
https://www.thespicehouse.com/pages/about-the-spice-house
https://minnesotarightnow.com/2022/01/19/here-are-10-alternatives-to-penzeys-spices/
its relatively lucrative to behave this way, although world controller fink, sold 7% of his black rock holding just this week, so did the other big mutual fund player,
I didn’t know the Penzey daughter had sold the business. Sounds like the new owners are continuing in the right direction.
Fortunately for me, another chain, Savory Spice, https://www.savoryspiceshop.com, has a store not too far from me, and they are satisfactory.
This is the Democratic Party
https://thefederalist.com/2023/04/06/ruling-class-sides-with-transgender-shooter-who-murdered-6-at-tennessee-christian-school/
Art Deco
Look up trans shooter on Google and check out the first twenty results.
Call me Ishmael … or something.
Every 2-3 years I check the Rolling Stone Best 100n*x lists and they keep getting more Woke.
For Best Singers of All Time, the top 10 are all black except Mariah Carey. I guess they had to have a token white singer, but … Mariah Carey?
And the next white singer after Carey at #12 is … John Lennon? At least Patsy Cline came in #13,
Aretha Franklin scored #1 and I’ve got no kicks against Aretha, but as far as I’m concerned head-to-head and voice-to-voice Annie Lennox (Eurythmics) took her down, not just on looks, when they shared a stage:
–Aretha Franklin / Annie Lennox, “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drGx7JkFSp4
Lennox didn’t make it to the top 200 at all.
Tech today is largely a game played between giants who, if they see promising technology, simply acquire it. Tech entrepreneur turned author Antonio García Martínez has called the contemporary [Silicon] Valley “feudalism with better marketing,” a “highly stratified” quasi-medieval society “with little social mobility.”
–Joel Kotkin, “THE END OF THE SILICON VALLEY DREAM”
https://www.newgeography.com/content/007806-the-end-silicon-valley-dream
_________________
That about says it.
Once upon a time tech people (mostly white guys) put a man on the moon, created the internet and wired the planet.
Heigh-ho, halcyon days.
huxley:
Mariah Carey: mother Irish, father half black and half Venezuelan. See this.
neo:
Well. That explains it. So no standard whites at all in the top ten singers.
No Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Bono, Mick Jagger, Robert Plant, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury. Johnny Cash, Celine Dion, Stevie Nicks, Roy Orbison, Karen Carpenter…
I guess they don’t got game.
Not even a Gibb brother, for that matter.
I’m taking this Saturday night off from French films to watch “The Blob” (1958).
Geez, “The Blob” has made it to the “Criterion Collection”! The ABQ library has a ton of Criterion films and I’m working my way through them.
“The Blob” was Steve McQueen’s first lead role. He’s too old to play a teenager, but he manages all right. Sure, it’s cheese, but put it on a burger and grab a beer.
It’s silly — rowdy teens come together to save their town and ultimately the planet from the Creeping Alien Menace — but well-shot and even oddly moving at moments.
One may contemplate the Cold War subtext. But Steve McQueen! (Oh, I said that already.)
***Trigger warning***
Someone passes on in my following, true story.
A friend of mine, he’s sort of an uncle to me.
A few years ago, his: loving, kind, happy, + fun wife, who he had been married to, for 40+ years, passed on.
He had [a joint credit card], with his wife, from LL Bean.
A few months after she passed on, he tried to order shirts…over the phone, using his LL Bean card. They declined his card.
He had had this card for over 15 years.
When he called to ask why they didn’t accept his card/LL Bean account, they said, I’m paraphrasing:
“Oh NO! Your wife had the MAIN account with us, + YOUR account was just a [rider account] on it. So we’ve cancelled your card and your account.
If you want to order from our company again,…you’ll have to apply for a new LL Bean card.”
That is just heartless.
He doesn’t do business with them,…and because of the bad way they have treated him, and I won’t buy things from them, ever again.
Does LL Bean have the cachet it once did?
This is not exactly about French, but … now that I’ve sort of got a second language, I’m shocked at the liberties translators take.
I knew translating is inevitably a sausage-making business. I was content to live with that. Put it in a bun, slap some mustard and relish on and I’ll eat it.
But now that I am reading Real French as well as the English it became or came from, I am shocked, shocked by how these casinos are run.
I’m still on the French Harry Potter 1, but I am an adult and I am aware that life is not all magic spells, evil sorcerers and flying broom sports. So I’ve started Camus’s “The Stranger” in the original French.
OMG. If you read “The Stranger” back then, you read the Stuart Gilbert translation that I read. Impressive, searing, but not exactly what Albert Camus wrote.
Camus wrote in a very stripped-down, hard-boiled language, straight out of American detective stories and film noir.
Gilbert embroidered “The Stranger” into a British novel. He flat added detail nowhere present in Camus’s French. The result was admirable, but disloyal to the source.
Translation must always fail, but some are still better than others. I’ll take something closer to a literal translation than a translator’s judgment.
I tell you, I’m shocked!
1. Thanks for the heads-up about LL Bean. As a long-term expat I rely on old brands and don’t always get the background vibes. I will shop elsewhere for outdoor activewear – although much of that sector is pitched to tree-huggers.
2. Translation: I have done a fair amount of it. It is pretty easy to get close in most prose. No excuse for embroidery.
I read a few Harry Potters in Hebrew, They did a good job despite not having any cultural references anywhere near English boarding schools or European witchcraft. Sometimes the translator had to baldly narrate what a character was feeling, rather than translate a spoken phrase that better expressed it – but had no equivalent in Hebrew.
It’s Sunday, Open Thread, Russo-Ukraine war related.
Who is Japan concerned about enough to spend lots of cash on national defense?
The CCP.
Oops, another one of Vlad’s unintended consequences.
But, but, but, NATO.
Japanese Defence Strategy & Rearmament – Japan’s ambitious plans & lessons from Ukraine – Perun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BHnijL9xYc
Timestamps:
Timestamp:
00:00:00 — Japanese Rearmament
00:01:38 — What Am I Talking About?
00:02:41 — Historical Development
00:15:07 — Japan’s Strategic Position
00:21:43 — The JSDF
00:34:13 — Industry & Systems
00:38:18 — Japanese Strategic Thinking
00:43:01 — Building Up The JSDF
00:59:41 — An Alliance Driven Force
01:06:05 — Challenges & Options
01:11:41 — Conclusions
01:12:32 — Channel Update
On translation: The original language almost always has a flavor which cannot be perfectly translated. Like most American Christians, for example, I cannot read either Hebrew or the Greek of the Christian scriptures; I must rely on translations, and prefer ones that are as nearly literal translations as possible. I have been told to look at Psalm 1. If it says, “Blessed is the man …” it’s probably a fairly literal translation. If if says, “Blessed is the one …” it is one which is being “interpreted” for modern ears.
Translation also has to deal with–or perhaps be resigned to–changes in a language over time.
“cried” as in “spoke out excitedly” is become less common. While it may still be in the dictionary, its common use and common understanding is diminishing. The same is true for other words and phrases, if only the nuances or underlying meanings.
“repair” in the meaning of go to a place of…security or comfort is archaic, as is “congress” to refer to sexual activity.
Bad enough for an editor seeking to update something, tougher for a translator who needs to know the references in each language.
My wife read Harry Potter in Spanish. Hagrid spoke Standard Spanish and lost much characterization in that way. Whether there was a rural Spanish available, I have no idea, but if so, the translator chose not to use it. “chose” being the operative word. Point is, a native speaker of Standard Spanish wouldn’t know what was missing when reading it.
that intriguing since you think of hagrid with a scottish accent, there isn’t a comparable sister dialect in Spanish, galicia and catalan are far afield, basque doesn’t resemble any other dialect,
I have been doing research on the Austrian Army for a board game project. As such I have been reading a lot of archaic Austrian-German and had to do a bit of searching around to determine the meaning. One that still has me puzzled is Genie. It is use in Genie Waffe, K. K. General-Genie-Direction and units like 6. Genie Bataillon. Translates as genius or wizard. Also around 1903 Corps-Commando becomes Korpskommando.
Chases Eagles: Genie = Military Engineers. In the Swiss and K.u.K. (Austro-Hungarian) armies. From the French.
If you’re interested in the Austro-Hungarian Army circa WWI, got a movie for you: “Colonel Redl” (1985), with Klaus Maria Brandauer in the title role. Also Austrian TV productions of Joseph Roth’s 1932 novel “Radetzkymarsch” from 1965 and 1995:
1965: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272268/
1995: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108900/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Hubert, as Chases Eagles wrote, “genie” does, literally mean “genius” in German (spoken with a hard “g”).
Are you saying Germans also call their equivalent of the Army Corps of Engineers “GENIE?” Is that an acronym for something, like NAZI or SS?
RTF–
From what I could find out, the usual German term for military engineers in general is Pioniertruppe, a feminine noun. They refer to our Army Corps of Engineers as das Pionierkorps der U.S. Army. I couldn’t find anything about Genie that made sense in a military context– it may be an Austrian thing.
Apropos of the Austrian army– Chases Eagles might be interested to know that the soldiers of Napoleon’s Grande Armée developed an extensive vocabulary of military slang that included terms for their opponents: British soldiers were les Goddams or les Rosbifs; the Austrians were les autres chiens, literally “the other dogs,” a pun on Autrichiens.
If you and Chases Eagles like this sort of thing (huxley might want to give a listen too), there is a march of the Napoleonic era called the Chanson de l’Oignon (“Song of the Onion”), which originated during Napoleon’s Italian campaign. The story is that the Emperor saw some of his grenadiers rubbing onions on their bread before battle. He supposedly said to them that “there is nothing better than an onion for marching on the road to glory.” The third stanza of the song contains the pun on “Austrians” described above:
But no onions for the Austrians,
No onions for all those dogs
No onions for the Austrians,
No onions, no onions
Here is a video of the song with English subtitles switched on. The French soldiers are WWI poilus rather than Napoleonic-era reenactors, but you can’t have everything:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3BHyOhVXmE&ab_channel=HakushinChannel
RTF: not the Germans. The Austrians and the Swiss. They must have borrowed it from the French:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9nie_militaire
“Sappers” may be a UK or Commonwealth equivalent.
As PA+Cat says, the German army term for combat engineers is Pioniere. I lived not far from a Bundeswehr Pionierschule in a suburb of Munich in the 1980s. They must have been practicing blowing stuff up, because I could hear the occasional dull thud or crump from my apartment balcony.
I wonder if the Onion Song inspired the French Foreign Legion’s anthem, “Le boudin” (The Blood Sausage):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC6-AhOmnCk
No mention of the autres chiens/Austrians–the Belgians are the ones who get the rap in that song. No boudin for them: “None for the Belgians/None for the Belgians/They’re a bunch of shirkers”.
Another song for Huxley is “La Madelon”, a French WWI standard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMgKvR9cAwA
With lyrics.
miguel.
Thanks for the input. I don’t suppose a lower-class version with poor grammar and whatever passes in Spanish for incorrect verb agreement or mass/fem confusion would have the desired effect. That wasn’t Hagrid.
Speaking of Galicia, more or less, doing some Bible study involving the Galatians, one of the Celtic peoples who, when they came into Greece and fought the Persians with the Greeks had a reputation. If prisoners and enslaved in Persian possessions, only one per township–whatever they called such a thing–because they were too much trouble.
Are the Galicians culturally distinct in Spain?
I wonder if Paul were ever exasperated in dealing with their Turkish cousins.
Translation: I have done a fair amount of it. It is pretty easy to get close in most prose. No excuse for embroidery.
Ben David:
Quite so. When I say translation fails, I mean it fails perfection. But I agree getting close is mostly not that hard. I complain when the translator seems to have ambitions to improve on the original.
I’m also not sympathetic to the notion of coming up with cultural equivalents in the target language. I don’t want Sherlock Holmes turned into a super computer security wizard in Silicon Valley because AC Doyle might be “translated” for a 21st century American audience.
I am disappointed that Stuart Gilbert, who was no less than a close literary associate of James Joyce and wrote the first good commentary on “Ulysses” (which I cut my teeth on) as well as its official French translation, handled Camus’ “The Stranger” as he did.
Another song for Huxley is “La Madelon”, a French WWI standard:
Hubert:
Wonderful! I’ve never heard it. I continue to be happily surprised by how much great French culture I’m getting to by learning French.
In my usual discursive manner “La Madelon” reminds me of that irresistible 70s hit, “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass, about a bar maid in a sailor’s bar who gets hit on by all the guys but turns them down because she’s in love with a sailor who hasn’t returned.
I looked it up on the web and there is now a video using a delightful animated cartoon to put the song across. Worthwhile if you are a fan of the song.
–“Looking Glass – Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) (Official Music Video)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI1GeauAzcg
huxley–
Another French military song you might like is “Auprès de ma blonde,” composed in 1704 shortly after Louis XIV’s war with the Dutch; the young wife in the lyrics refers to her husband as a POW in the Netherlands. The song was revived during the Napoleonic period and has been used as a military march ever since. Lyrics:
Dans les jardins de mon père,
Les lilas sont fleuris ;
Dans les jardins de mon père,
Les lilas sont fleuris ;
Tous les oiseaux du monde
Viennent y faire leurs nids …
{Refrain:}
Auprès de ma blonde,
Qu’il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon.
Auprès de ma blonde,
Qu’il fait bon dormir !
La caille, la tourterelle
Et la jolie perdrix
La caille, la tourterelle
Et la jolie perdrix
Et ma jolie colombe,
Qui chante jour et nuit…
{au Refrain}
Elle chante pour les filles
Qui n’ont pas de mari.
Elle chante pour les filles
Qui n’ont pas de mari.
Pour moi ne chante guère,
Car j’en ai un joli…
{au Refrain}
“Dites-moi donc la belle,
Où donc est votre mari ? ”
“Dites-moi donc la belle,
Où donc est votre mari ? ”
Il est dans la Hollande,
Les Hollandais l’ont pris.
{au Refrain}
Que donneriez-vous, belle,
Pour avoir votre ami ?
Que donneriez-vous, belle,
Pour avoir votre ami ?
Je donnerais Versailles,
Paris et Saint-Denis.
{au Refrain}
Les tours de Notre-Dame
Et le clocher de mon pays,
Les tours de Notre-Dame
Et le clocher de mon pays,
Et ma jolie colombe,
Pour avoir mon mari.
Yes, it’s long, but it makes a good drinking song as well as a march. You can listen to it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjEIVO9Xitk&ab_channel=Grenadierdela8eme
One interesting example of its contemporary use: the band of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) has an official quick march that combines “Auprès de ma blonde” with “Lilliburlero”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb80GpfVMqQ&ab_channel=TheMarches09
PA+Cat:
That one I believe I’ve heard. The “Qu’il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon” refrain sounds familiar. Quite fun! And I do like a tin whistle in the right spot.
I notice they sing the final e’s — blonde, belle, colombe, etc. are all sung with two syllables — which is not current Standard French.
I think the final e’s were lost before 1704 in Parisian French but I notice in modern songs the final e’s may still be pronounced so the lines will scan (as is necessary in this song).
I’m still working out French pronunciation. Not simple. At least I’m not learning English!
RFK Jr’s vocal condition is called spasmodic dysphonia. I don’t know if he’s had it treated or not, but its severity reminds me of radio talk show host Diane Rehm’s condition years ago. Hers was every bit as bad as RFK Jr’s, but she got effectively treated for it. I’m pleasantly surprised by how good she sounds in a post treatment video.
RFK Jr has apparently had similar treatments, but not as effective as Rehm’s.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Is Pretty Open About His Rare Voice Disorder
Aside from several Liberal shibboleth’s, which surprised me (but I suppose shouldn’t have), RFK Jr. makes sense, to me at least, on some key issues, particularly the vast, intricate and toxic Covid scandal and the extremely parlous state—being kind here—of the Democratic Party, in which he MUST SURELY understand would have to necessarily ostracize both his father and his uncle in its current incarnation.
Actually, the current state of power politics generally, and the go-for-broke power play enacted by the party with which he still seems to be affiliated.
The problem for him (and for any other opponents of “Biden”) is that the only way Obama will be able to serve his fourth term is for Biden to be reelected in 2024.
Which TELLS me—the way things have been going in the 2020 and 2022 “elections”—that Biden MUST BE REELECTED…and therefore WILL BE.
(Short version: Obama & Co. is SO CLOSE to destroying the country that he will refuse to be denied this “thing” that he adopted as his mission and his fate: His DESTINY.)
Toilets, self check-out and phones, OH MY!
Well…—to paraphrase Travis Bickle—“Suck on this!”….
“Taibbi: News Blackout In Effect”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/taibbi-news-blackout-effect
(That is, WRT the Biden/Blinken/Garland/Morell MEGA-SCANDAL, which is being deep-sixed (as expected) by the Democratic Party’s Mega-Corrupt Media Praetorian Guard.)
Opening graf:
“An all-time media blackout is in effect. We’re experiencing real-time Sovietization….”
Brought to you by “Nothing-To-See-Here-Move-Right-Along”, Inc.
(To be fair, we’ve been experiencing this kind of Sovietization for quite a while now.
And so, indeed (alas), to be expected…, since, as mentioned above, the stakes are so sky high…)
The hijacking of the country continues apace…
“Biden administration inserts racial, gender equity into everything from energy to food;
“Energy Department latest federal agency to incorporate controversial DEI agenda.”—
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/wknd-bidens-doe-says-diversity-crucial-producing-clean-energy
They’re making it “legal” to hijack/kidnap your kids, too…
“West Coast shuts parents out of ‘gender affirming’ decisions as Swedish research urges caution;
“Bills would deny parents notice of runaway children seeking hormones, surgery, gender identity counseling. Treatment should be limited to clinical trials, Sweden-commissioned review says.”—
https://justthenews.com/government/state-houses/west-coast-shuts-parents-out-gender-affirming-decisions-swedish-research
Continues apace? Actually, the “Biden” Demo-fascist juggernaut is ramping up.
Come to think of it, it is rather amazing to observe how similar the governments of Ukraine and “Biden” truly are…:
(Might this be the reason for the strange affinity/symmetry?…Or is it merely because “Biden” is entirely compromised…?)
https://twitter.com/themarketswork/status/1650217301793452032?cxt=HHwWgMDRuZH53-YtAAAA
https://twitter.com/themarketswork
then they fired shokin and burisma had no more problems,
https://www.frontpagemag.com/all-the-presidents-islamists/#comment-51577
As regards Bud Lite and myriad other cases:
First, I favor beer with twist-off caps. I avoid light beers unless they’re the closest when I open the refrigerator. I get annoyed listening to a couple of guys talking as if they’re a brew version of top-end wine conoycers.
So I don’t have a beer in this fight.
I haven’t seen the ad. I haven’t seen the beer.
I wonder if the ad would have gone away had it not been for the condescending “fratty and out of touch” observations.
As a general rule, most of us can tolerate; intellectually, at a distance, theoretically, in good faith, a number of items without losing the ICK! response when it’s shoved in our faces.
Is the trans community attempting to generate a response resulting from near-infinite multiplications of ICK! encounters?
What is the public reaction supposed to be when a state passes laws effectively allowing for the kidnapping and mutilation of minor children without their parents’ consent?
Is it the reaction which is sought?
https://twitter.com/timcast/status/1650315377887305728?s=46&t=No5_kjlXw_Tg4QZK6URwBQ
I am only half way through these comments. Your contributions make this a fun, rich, and screen cap worthy resource.
om on Japan and rebuilding defense in light of Ukraine. On YT – added to my watch list! Thanks.
The reason we ought to shoot wokies like Zombies is that they are the same menace and can be dispatched similarly — with head shots.
huxley on translations. It is true. Camus reads like stripped down hard boiled prose…. How rich – and attitudinally speaking apres pos. How like, say, James Dean. This insight raises Camus’s stature to me. Refining his voice.
And h on movie notes – always interesting to hear what your watching.
Finally, banned lizard writes “In World War Woke, wokes are actively in the field of combat. Led by transgender shock troops, they’ve encountered minimal resistance, and are consolidating vast chunks of institutional power. Presently, transitioning youth is their most aggressively active front.”
How true. How wittily put. Your World War Woke borrows from history and builds on popular film culture like “World War Z”, for with “Z” for Zombies – the undead aggressively reanimated by a virus, threatening to kill all of humanity.
We’ve been waiting on a suitable movie sequel, but I’m calling the prospect dead.
The symmetries between the Woke Mind Virus, as Gad Saad has put it, and this SF End-of-The World story is righteously correct.
On YT, I posted a remark that We ought to “shoot Woke Zombies.” Both for the same reason: both eat up living brains by the undead.
My angry “Shoot Woke Zombies” post garnered a commendation to me by Jordan Peterson (as well as an invite!) on YT. I’m pleased to find out that he reads and reacts to comments, given his very frequent and huge number of video interview uploads.
That is precisely where we’re at, banned lizard. I really thank for your painful but artfully humored addition to acknowledging our declining times. Your thought-provoking paragraph is saved to my device.
(Auto-corrected and deleted FINAL sentenc…as edit time ended…RRRGH)
The simile that Wokies are very much, too much, like Zombies is that both eat brains and threaten humanity, yet both can be dispatched and defeated the same way — via head shots (whether literally or metaphorically).
Hi, Kate. Check out the LXX Psalter translation from Holy Transfiguration Monastery. I pray from it whenever I have the option.
I’ll look for it, Philip Sells. I use a traditional English book, which I love, but the Coverdale Psalter does have some problems for the modern ear.