Maybe it's better they stop pretending.

 

CRANKY OLD FART #318

leftovers & links
Sunday, May 21, 2023

Occasionally I see articles with headlines like, "What you can do to stop climate change," but they're invariably nonsense. What you can do about climate change is jack and also shit.

You could write to your Congressperson, sell your car, grow your own vegetables, unplug entirely from the grid, replace your toilet with a compost heap, and shower once monthly only with cold water, but it wouldn't have any measurable impact on anything outside your own home — unless you can get billions or at least millions of people to do the same things. And you can't.

To actually stop climate change and the looming destruction of civilization, we'd need laws reining in the giant corporations, and unflinching enforcement of those laws.

And for that to happen, we'd need to end corporate capitalism.

And for that to happen, we'd need a revolution — literally, the kind of revolution where Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and all their friends are swiftly separated from their heads.

That's how to stop climate change, but it can't be done, so game over. 

On to more important topics:

Apparently the entire third season of TV's Picard is an extended reunion of the cast from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I've seen some enjoyable clips, and of course everyone's 30 years older now, as are we all.

If anyone reading this watches Picard, tell me please: What's the show's explanation for Data — the android supposedly built so much better, smarter, and stronger than humans — getting old and gray and wrinkly, the same as any flesh-and-blood person?

After complaints from the comically-evil Catholic League (which has no affiliation with the almost-as-evil Catholic Church) the Los Angeles Dodgers have decided there's more money to be made on Gay Pride Night without the The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

In a clumsy press release, the team announced:

"Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the Sisters' inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees."

Gotta wonder how today's Dodgers would've reacted to the "strong feelings of people who were offended" that Jackie Robinson wore the uniform.

Like most of Major League Baseball, the Dodgers market Gay Pride every June as a ticket-selling gimmick. This year, because they dumped the Sisters, the Dodgers will do their fake Gay Pride Night without the participation of Los Angeles Pride or, I'll wager, any other prominent gay, lesbian, bi, trans, or question and answering groups.

I don't often read anything in the news and think to myself, Good, but giant corporations' greenwashing, gaywashing, and other feel-good posturing has always been fake. Maybe it's better they stop pretending. 

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence make people smile, and don't even charge a fee to do it. All the Dodgers do is play baseball and manufacture profits. The world needs the Sisters a thousand times more than it needs the Dodgers.

News you need,
whether you know it or not

• US wars since 2001 have killed 4.5 million people 

• Perv Epstein moved more than $250,000 between accounts for Noam Chomsky, who said the money was for a 'pure technicality' 

• TikTok users sue Montana same day the app is banned 

• Climate change is making crabs lose their sense of smell — and seafood may never be the same 

• Climate change to push species over abrupt tipping points 

• Arizona's farms are running out of water, forcing farmers to confront climate change

• Cop actually admits he was wrong to brutalize a man who thought he was being assaulted by criminals 

• Cop gets probation for for repeatedly punching, tasing and pepper spraying a civilian who was filming officers at a traffic stop 

• NYPD took this dog into custody because his owner filmed the police 

• FBI misused surveillance tool on Jan. 6 suspects, BLM arrestees and others 

• Agreement with watchdog agency allows Virginia State Police to investigate itself 

• "We've had death threats, bomb threats": Rural libraries, often a lifeline, now face efforts to ban books and restrict funding 

• Republican Congresswoman's family terrifies neighbors 

• Republican Congressperson: "The world needs more men like [subway strangler] Daniel Penny." 

• After school shooting, Tennessee governor signs bill to shield gun firms further against lawsuits 

• Republican candidate wants to restrict voting for Americans between 18 to 25 amid Republican struggles 

• Tennessee bans oversight of police

• Florida prosecutor goes after people misled into thinking they could vote  

• Black lawmaker responds after Republican felt threatened by his presence: "White supremacists — this is what they do" 

Mystery links
There's no knowing where you're going

• Click • Click • Click •
• Click • Click •

My browser history
without the porn

• We need to give Wendy Carlos the flowers she deserves while she's still alive 

• "The Court's position is, no one can tell them what to do." 

• Another thing that interests me about the Eagles is that I hate them. 

• Benny Hill was a master of the erotic 

• The history of kissing 

♫♬  It don't mean a thing  ♫
if it don't have that swing

• The Avengers — Laurie Johnson

 • I Want to Break Free — Queen 

• Kiss You — Cyndi Lauper 

• Questi Stivali Sono Fatti Per Camminare — Eileen 

• The Sadder but Wiser Girl — The Music Man 

Eventually, everyone
leaves the building

• Martin Amis 

• Peter Brown 

• Doyle Brunson 

• Chester Hartman 

• Bill Saluga 

• Andy Smart

 5/21/2023   

Cranky Old Fart is annoyed and complains and very occasionally offers a kindness, along with anything off the internet that's made me smile or snarl. All opinions fresh from my ass. Top illustration by Jeff Meyer. Click any image to enlarge. Comments & conversations invited.  

Tip 'o the hat to ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, CaptCreate's Log, Dumnezero, Katameme, Looking for My Perfect Sandwich, One Finger Medical, Two Finger Magical, Miss Miriam's Mirror, Nebulously Burnished, RanPrieur.com, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I've stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration. 

Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Wynn Bruce, Joey Jo Jo, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn't always shitty.

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