Time To Defenestrate: 95 at 25

Defenestrate is a transitive verb (to throw something out a window), but has one definition that is intransitive: to stop using the Windows operating system.

Windows 95 was released on August 24, 1995 (The Verge), twenty five years ago today (ZD Net).  People loved it or hated it (or both, I’m a 30%/70% split). it changed computing, and not just because it increased Microsoft’s monopoly.  It radically increased the expectation of what a GUI can and should do, forcing other operating systems to improve and add features.  Linux might still be a command line OS and Macintosh still have a black, grey and white screen.  Windows 95 introduced multitasking, plug-and-play support (*), USB support, accessibility features, long file names, multilanguage fonts, among other things.  One major failing of the OS was a lack of a TCP/IP stack as default.  Dialup modems were the standard way to go online at the time without a cable connection and knowing how to configure the system.

(* Plug-and-pray as it was jokingly called for its unreliability.)

As much as I slam Microsoft, I give them credit for one thing: They have maintained backwards compatibility for decades and still do.  Software made for Windows 3.1 (or even 2.0 and 1.0) could run on XP, programs for Windows 95 until Windows 7.  A disk, file or program created in CP/M in 1978 can still be read and used by a Windows 10 computer today (either in emulation or native), which is an amazing feat.  And even now with emulators and multibooting, it’s still possible to keep running software made forty years ago.  Apple intentionally prevents the use of software from two or three previous Macintosh OS generations.

But I would also like Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer to suffer a punishment: One slap across the face for every Blue Screen of Death experienced by users (with billions of people each suffering hundreds of BSoDs, that’s going to hurt).   I want them to receive a kick in the shin for every time they blamed the user by saying “windows was not shut down properly!” after the OS crashed.  I never once shut down windows “improperly” (i.e. hitting the power button instead of closing from the start menu).  All the crashes were the fault of the OS.  (Linux says “Whoops, something went wrong,” which doesn’t assign blame.)

More below the fold.

[Read more…]

Blown Away: Was one of the mass exinctions a result of a supernova?

A new item in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) hypothesizes that the Late Devonian mass extincion was a result of a supernova.  It would need to have been much closer or more powerful than Kepler’s supernova of 1604 to destroy the ozone layer and kill much of Earth’s life, but not enough to wipe out the planet.  It’s comparable to being in the survival zone of a nuclear blast (e.g. 10km away from the bomb dropped on Hiroshima).

If the blast were a very short term event (i.e. a single burst lasting a few hours) and not prolonged, being on the far side of the planet might be enough to survive.  Africville was spared the brunt of the 1917 Halifax explosion because it was on the far side of a hill.

Supernova triggers for end-Devonian extinctions

PNAS first published August 18, 2020

Abstract

The Late Devonian was a protracted period of low speciation resulting in biodiversity decline, culminating in extinction events near the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary. Recent evidence indicates that the final extinction event may have coincided with a dramatic drop in stratospheric ozone, possibly due to a global temperature rise. Here we study an alternative possible cause for the postulated ozone drop: a nearby supernova explosion that could inflict damage by accelerating cosmic rays that can deliver ionizing radiation for up to ∼100∼100 ky. We therefore propose that the end-Devonian extinctions were triggered by supernova explosions at ∼20 pc∼20 pc, somewhat beyond the “kill distance” that would have precipitated a full mass extinction. Such nearby supernovae are likely due to core collapses of massive stars; these are concentrated in the thin Galactic disk where the Sun resides. Detecting either of the long-lived radioisotopes Sm146 or Pu244 in one or more end-Devonian extinction strata would confirm a supernova origin, point to the core-collapse explosion of a massive star, and probe supernova nucleosynthesis. Other possible tests of the supernova hypothesis are discussed.

This is testable.  If the right Samarium or Plutonium isotopes are found in the environment, it would back up the theory.  Cool.

Santayana Revisited: Did she forget history, ignore it, or is she trying to repeat it?

Most know George Santayana’s quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  I have a corollary: Those who ignore the past are trying to repeat it.  And Pauline Hanson lives down to that.

Australia’s resident loudmouthed lout is infamous and well known for both being a racist and a TERF, two facts she’s willing to display at the drop of a hat.  Now you have to wonder if she is just ignorant of Australia’s racist past of Stolen Generations, or if she wants to repeat it.  Most likely, the latter.

Pauline Hanson Says Transgender Kids Should Be Taken Away From Their Parents

In an online gathering of hard-right commentators, Australian Senator Pauline Hanson said parents who believed their child might be transgender should have their children taken away them, OutinPerth reports.

Hanson appeared on Pellowe an online political discussion program alongside others such as Queensland MP George Christensen and a spokesperson from the Australian Christian Lobby.

Hanson said parents who take their children to the doctor and believe their children are transgender are “bloody idiots” and “need their heads read”.

[. . .]

Hanson said she believed parents who wanted a child with the opposite gender brainwashed them into thinking they are trans.

Is Hanson stupid enough to “think” the growing number of Transgender people is due to parents forcing it on kids? Probably.

The breeding pair wanted me reindoctrinated into the catholic cult by force when they learnt I was always an atheist. I can imagine them doing worse had they learnt my sexual orientation and later my Transitioning. I know the violence they perpetrated for other things, so I can easily picture them doing worse.

I hope I’m not being flippant or dismissive of Indigenous Australian people’s experiences when I say this would be a Stolen Genderation.

My Genderation

A new genderation of film, about trans people, by trans people, for everyone

 

Odds And Ends: How life is different here

Some of the differences in local policing and traffic.  Note that any empathy for cops not causing problems does not equate to “support” for violent policing:

Suspect shot and wounded after ramming police car

A wanted man driving a stolen car suffered a bullet wound to the head after a police detective fired three shots at his vehicle when he rammed their unmarked police car in Chiayi County last night, August 21.

[. . .]

The suspect refused [to exit the vehicle], and rammed the police car. The squad leader, named Lee, in order to protect the safety of personnel and police equipment, fired three shots at the suspect vehicle: one at the left-front tire, one at the left-side door, and one at the window, according to China Times.

Emphasis mine.  The first shot was to disable the vehicle, the second a warning shot to demonstrate intent.  Only a third was fired to injure when the driver did not comply, not ten or twenty shots from multiple cops.  Wouldn’t it be nice if that sort of escalation of force were the norm instead of seeing situations like this as opportunity to kill with impunity?

More below the fold…

[Read more…]

Pair Off: Guess who the republiclowns invited to their convention?

Denis Rader and the Hamburgler.

Yes, the picture quality is terrible, but who really wants to see these two at high resolution?  I want to see criminal resolution for them.

White Thugs Who Pulled Guns on BLM Protesters to Take Part in GOP Convention

G.I. Ken and Karen, the white St. Louis couple who had trouble sitting in their living room and minding their own business, the same cop-loving couple who felt deputized by their whiteness to pull guns on Black Lives Matters demonstrators—who weren’t even fucking with them—will participate in the virtual Republican National Convention next week.

[. . .]

On Monday, the Trump campaign announced that Mark and Patricia McCloskey, affectionately known as Ken and Karen McGoFuckThemselves, would endorse the president of the people who believe that violence is the answer to peaceful protest during the virtual slavemaster convention, the Hill reports.

Sadly, Ken and Karen have become heroes of the right after a video emerged of these gun-toting miscreants and their divisive message of wielding guns during peaceful marches because America.

Left To Die: Greece now has its own SS St. Louis

The New York Timid (paywall) reported last Friday that Greece has intentionally towed over a thousand refugees out into the Mediterranean Sea on inflatable rafts and abandoned them.  Insider covered the story with its own write-up.

Greece has secretly sent away more than 1,000 migrants, taking them to the edge of the country’s territorial waters and then abandoning them at sea

At least 1,072 migrants were sailed to the edge of Greece’s water territory on inflatable life rafts and abandoned by Greek authorities, The New York Times reported.

The Times analyzed evidence from multiple sources, including academic researchers, the Turkish Coast Guard, and independent watchdogs groups. They found that there were at least 31 different incidents of these expulsions in the past few months.

Najma al-Khatib, a 50-year-old Syrian teacher told The Times that on July 26, she and 22 others including babies were taken by masked Greek officials from a detention center on the island of Rhodes while it was dark outside. She told The Times they were left on a “rudderless, motorless life raft” and were later rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard.

“I left Syria for fear of bombing — but when this happened, I wished I’d died under a bomb,” she told The Times.

Human rights groups have made similar accusations against Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and other countries.  When rightwing, corporate, xenophobic and racist media cover it, you know it’s because the story can no longer be hidden or ignored.

“Turnbacks” (towing boats back to the country of origin) are the “official policy” of countries, but on the open ocean there are no eyes to witness governments that commit crimes against humanity.  How many unseaworthy boats full of people have been abandoned and murdered?  (Not *if*, but how many.)  Oceans are huge; the Pacific is larger than all land masses combined.  It is easy for a freighter to be lost without a trace, never mind a ten metre vessel.

In 2019, Carola Rackete was threatened with jail or prison for rescuing people whose ship was sinking.  If she hadn’t intervened, it’s likely all on board would have died.  Governments are sending a clear message: leave people to die, or you will be punished.  This is a gross violation of international law of the sea which says ALL boats, regardless of flag, have a legal obligation to aid any vessel in distress.

Who needs death camps, the cost of bullets and the risk of witnesses when the ocean will kill people for free and sea animals will consume the bodies:?

Lights Out: Pete Way, 1951-2020

Pete Way died last Friday, aged 69 (August 7, 1951 – August 14, 2020). He died of complications following an accident he suffered two months ago.

Way was a bass player and songwriter, and original member of and with UFO through their height of their success. After leaving the band in the mid 1980s, he formed Fastway with Fast Eddie Clarke (ex-Motorhead) but could not stay with the project due to record company contracts. He formed a new group named Waysted and recorded several albums before returning to UFO.

In December 2014, The Concourse (back when Deadspin was worth reading) published this aptly titled article:

Spinal Tap IRL: The Brief, Sordid Reign Of ’70s-Rock Legends UFO

Let’s try something here. Here’s a song called “Hot and Ready,” by the band UFO. Give it a listen.

If this doesn’t rock your ass off—if you’re thinking, “Ehhh, maybe, I’m not sure”—then go back to nursing your IPA and nodding along to the Mountain Goats or Sam Smith or whoever. I can’t help you. But if you have the correct opinion—if you wonder, “Holy shit, that is an amazing solo, and it’s just the opening riff? Who is that?”—then you have uncovered one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest secrets.

In the annals of rock history, tucked way behind your Zeppelins and Floyds, just trailing your Big Stars and Thin Lizzys, but just ahead of your Raspberries and Budgies, there resides a band that only die-hards and full-on music geeks seem to truly appreciate (or even know): UFO.

At the height of their mid-’70s heyday, this hard-living, ass-kicking, spandex-wearing quintet rocked like few have dared to rock, even if few dared to rock alongside them. They boasted a haughty, combative frontman with great pipes; a hedonistic, polka-dot-pants-wearing bass player who made Keith Richards look like Debby Boone; and simply one of the best hard-rock guitarists of all time. They should have ruled the era when the amps were loud, the Camaros fast, the mullets magnificent and unironic. UFO put out five good-to-brilliant studio records that stand toe-to-toe with any of the great albums of that era; then, in 1979, they released their masterpiece, Strangers in the Night, a powerful, punishing live album with the visceral impact of a Jack Lambert clothesline tackle.

Emphasis in the last paragraph is mine.

That describes Pete Way and UFO perfectly. UFO had the songs and the talent, but they just couldn’t put it together. Their career highlight was 1979’s “Strangers In The Night”, still one of the greatest live recordings of all time. Here are a few more UFO highlights:

“Lights Out”

“Doctor, Doctor”

“Mother Mary”

“Love To Love”

I saw Pete Way play live once, and he lived up to the reputation. Iron Maiden played in Vancouver in 1986 (“Somewhere On Tour”), and they had Waysted as the opening act. Steve Harris was a huge fan of Pete Way and UFO, the music and sound had a huge influence on Iron Maiden. This was Harris’s way of paying tribute to his hero. I immediately went out and bought the debut album “Save Your Prayers”. The opening track “Walls Fall Down” still stands up, and though I’m not much into “power ballads”, I always liked “Black And Blue”.

Accolades, tributes and obituaries are coming from all over rock music: Ultimate Classic Rock, The Guardian, Music Radar, Louder Sound, New Music Express, and many others. Sea of Tranquility (a youtube channel covering hard rock and heavy metal) provides a thorough, kind and respectful obituary of Way’s career.

An Example Made: El Salvador does what the US fails to do

In 2016, Camila Díaz Córdova sought asylum in the US as a refugee, fearing for her life because she was a Transgender woman. The US rejected her claim, deporting her back to El Salvador. Less than a year later, she was murdered by three cops.

But here’s where the story takes a turn: the cops were arrested. Not only arrested, but tried, convicted and now sentenced to prison. Twenty years isn’t sufficient, but compared to the US, it’s justice. It should be a massive embarrassment and damnable statement of US courts, but more likely it will be brushed off as “corruption and incompetence”.

El Salvador police officers convicted of killing trans woman who had been deported from U.S.

Three police officers were convicted in a Salvadoran court in the 2019 murder of Camila Díaz Córdova, a transgender woman who had been deported from the United States the year before.

The three officers convicted of aggravated homicide July 28 were Jaime Geovany Mendoza Rivas, Luis Alfredo Avelar Sandoval and Carlos Valentín Rosales Carpio, according to the newspaper El Diario De Hoy. Each officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Diaz left El Salvador in 2018 and traveled to the U.S. with a migrant caravan to request asylum, as NBC News previously reported. After her claim was rejected, she went back to El Salvador where she reportedly returned to sex work. After midnight on Jan. 31, 2019, she was arrested for public nuisance and intoxication.

According to El Diaro De Hoy, she was beaten by the arresting officers in the patrol car and left in the road for dead. She was found and later taken to a hospital where she died from her wounds on Feb. 3, 2019.

In 2017, the United Nations called for an investigation into the surge of violence against transgender women in El Salvador. Local LGBTQ groups have counted the killings of at least 600 transgender people since 1993.

Last year, 34 members of Congress sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement demanding better treatment for transgender people in their custody, highlighting reports of mistreatment in detention and deaths like Cordova’s that followed deportations.

When Camila Díaz Cordova was killed, many feared it would be another unsolved murder in El Salvador, which in recent years has had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Instead, the convictions last week were the first time a Salvadoran courtroom had convicted someone in the killing of a transgender woman, local activists say.

“This landmark ruling is much needed in a country where LGBT Salvadorans and their families rarely see justice for violent crimes,” José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “The outcome of Camila’s case sends a powerful message to Salvadoran society that anti-LGBT violence will not be tolerated.”

Rest in power, Ms. Córdova.

Predictable Result: White christians are more racist than secular people

Shocking, I know. I mean who’s saying it is shocking, not the result itself.

Robert Jones is the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, a christianist organization, and his latest book openly accuses white christianity as the primary source of racism in the US. I’m sure that won’t go over well on Fox Nuisance.

Good luck refuting it when it’s one of their own saying it. Also of note, the linked article appears on the “christian post”.

White Christians more racist than secular whites, researcher Robert P. Jones reveals

In his latest book, White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, Robert P. Jones, founder and CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, argues that white Christians are more racist than their secular counterparts and have perpetuated white supremacy in American culture.

The book, released Tuesday, analyzes “the repressed history of the symbiotic relationship between Christianity and white supremacy,” according to an overview presented by publisher Simon & Schuster.

“White Too Long demonstrates how deeply racist attitudes have become embedded in the DNA of white Christian identity over time and calls for an honest reckoning with a complicated, painful, and even shameful past. Jones challenges white Christians to acknowledge that public apologies are not enough—accepting responsibility for the past requires work toward repair in the present. Jones argues that contemporary white Christians must confront these unsettling truths because this is the only way to salvage the integrity of their faith and their own identities.”

We’ve got plenty of racist scum on the secular and atheist side (e.g. Sam Embarrasing) but it’s nice to one of them take responsibility for their own without also uttering “you’re another”.

Hands Up: Left handedness and video games

Left handed representation doesn’t matter in most games since the game controller in the player’s hand causes actions, regardless of the player or character’s handedness. But there is one exception, and many players – even right handed people – took notice when it happened.

Link, the most famous left handed character in gaming was changed to right handed for Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Wii. This was done for an obvious reason: the Wii controller is designed only for use with the right hand, and players’ actions wouldn’t match the action on screen.

But that begs the question: Why didn’t Nintendo program the Wii (not just for Zelda, but all games) with a left handed option so that left handed players could play? And people say “right handed privilege doesn’t exist!”

Why Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s Link is Right-Handed

A 2015 article on lists five left handed characters in different video games.

Kain Highwind (Final Fantasy IV)
Freya Crescent (Final Fantasy IX)
Luke fon Fabre (Tales of the Abyss)
Mega Man (fires primarily left handed in the series)
Link (Legend of Zelda series)

One character not entioned in the item is “Doomguy” from DOOM and DOOM 2 (1993, 1994). Doomguy punches and uses the pistol left handed. He uses other weapons right handed, but this is more likely a reflection of reality. Few weapons are designed to be used right handed. I’ve seen chainsaws up close, and all are designed to be used right handed.

I plan to write a third item later when I get home.

Hands Up: ¡ʎɐp sɹǝpuɐH ʇɟǝ˥ ʎddɐH

Yes, it’s August 13th again, the day when I talk about one of the largest and least violently discriminated minorities in the world (in terms of murder).

My theme for this year: Neurodiversity. No, left handedness is not a disability, but it is brain related, and left handed people differ from the right handed majority in several ways. We are more prone to have dyslexia, schizophrenia, Autism and several other brain-related conditions. We’re also more likely to be LGBTQIA.

If you’re reading here, then you obviously saw the title. It says “Happy Left Handers Day!” upside down. Many left handed people can read and write (often both) upside down, backwards mirrored, backwards order (“!yaD srednaH tfeL yppaH”), vertically, and others. I can do all of them, and write fluently. I’ve looked for studies on reverse or mirrored writing, but all of them speak of this as a “problem in children learning to write”, rather than a useful ability. There’s not one I could find that investigates its usefulness. I didn’t form backwards letters as a kid, but I was able to write in different directions without ever practicing. This man has no trouble writing upside down.

One thing I’ve seen in some LGBTQIA and disability groups is exclusion and pushback. Some don’t want left handedness classified as neurodiverse, they say it should be labelled neurotypical. Why? We’re not going to come in, dominate and make it all about us. And since many of the conditions have a many overlaps, what’s wrong with one more. If you want people to agree that group A is normal and shouldn’t be discriminated against, why not another group which is normal and has an eye shape in the Venn diagram?

Disabled World: Neurodiversity

Science Alert: There Are Many Myths About Left-Handed Brains. Here’s What We Actually Know

Neurodiversity: Left-Handedness

I mentioned a few items in the past year that I’ll highlight again:

A study from St. Andrews University in Scotland on European children (countries where forced hand switching has ceased) shows that 10.6% of people are naturally left handed.

A study on thumbsucking preference in the womb and handedness in children at age 10-12 matched 70 time out of 75 kids.

A study by Oxford University linked left handedness and brain formation.

And there was my amateur hour “study” (which wouldn’t pass scientific rigour) on left handedness and birth month. It was voluntary answers by members of a left handers group on facebook.

More later.

When It Rains, It Pours: Even if TGD doesn’t collapse…

. . .China’s 2020 will be as bad as anyone else’s.

Some have noted that the flooding isn’t just the dams, but also the cities.  Scores dead, thousands displaced, and billions in property damage.  China has the money to withstand the economic impact, but the worst may yet be to come.

The Yangtze River basin is also flooded, and that area accounts for 70% of the China’s domestic rice production.  It’s only mid-summer, and many farmers have already lost their entire crops.  If this continues, high food prices during a flagging economy means the poor will starve.  Or just as likely, Beijing will starve the Uygurs to death, saving food for ethnic Chinese people.  They’ve already committed dozens of crimes against humanity, what’s one more to them?

‘Everything is gone.’ Flooding in China ruins farmers and risks rising food prices

By this time of year, the rice growing on Bao Wentao’s family farm should have been ready to harvest.

Instead, heavy flooding has engulfed huge swathes of southern China, including more than 36 acres of rice fields that 19-year-old Bao and his father tend to in their village near Poyang Lake.

“The crops have completely failed,” Bao told CNN Business in an interview over the social media app WeChat, adding that his family has already lost roughly 200,000 yuan ($28,000) worth of produce. “The rice was nearly ripened and ready to harvest before the flooding. But now everything is gone.”

China has the money to withstand buying imported rice and food this year, but what about future years if this repeats?  Thailand and Vietnam are two if the ten largest rice growing countries in the world.  They’re capable of telling other countries, “sell it – or else”.  Or will China demand food exports from African nations heavily in debt to the PRC?

Misinformation and politics are fueling fears of a Chinese debt trap in Nigeria

The hottest debate in Africa’s largest economy over the past week has been the over possibility of “losing” its sovereignty to China over bad debts.

It has come amid a wave of claims by federal lawmakers who are pushing for a probe into China’s lending practices to Nigeria, in the wake of a sovereign guarantee clause in loan agreements that has been erroneously interpreted. The dominant and controversial narrative is that the clause could see Nigeria sign away its sovereignty in the event of a payment default. And the outcry has proven significant enough for China’s embassy in Nigeria’s capital to deny plans to seize Nigerian assets.

More below the fold.

[Read more…]

Let’s Remember: Henrietta Lacks, 1920-1951

Henrietta Lacks was born on August 1, 1920, one hundred years ago.  She died on October 4, 1951 of cervical cancer, only thirty one years of age.  But she has lived on through her genes, her “immortal” HeLa cell line which has enabled great medical advances in research of cancer, HIV/AIDS, poisoning, gene mapping, and other fields.

And all of it done without her permission.  Doctors took her cells from her ill and deceased body without consent.  Her cells were replicated without acknowledgement of their source.  And no compensation was ever given to Ms. Lacks nor her family despite the billions of dollars the medical industry has profited over the past seventy years.

A farcical “deal” in 2013 only gave Ms. Lacks’s family the right to decide how her cells will be used and acknowledgement of their source.  But there was no offer of compensation.

I would not call this “making good”.

NIH finally makes good with Henrietta Lacks’ family — and it’s about time, ethicist says

On Tuesday, the National Institute of Health announced it was, at long last, making good with Lacks’ family. Under a new agreement, Lack’s genome data will be accessible only to those who apply for and are granted permission. And two representatives of the Lacks family will serve on the NIH group responsible for reviewing biomedical researchers’ applications for controlled access to HeLa cells. Additionally, any researcher who uses that data will be asked to include an acknowledgement to the Lacks family in their publications.

The new understanding between the NIH and the Lacks family does not include any financial compensation for the family. The Lacks family hasn’t, and won’t, see a dime of the profits that came from the findings generated by HeLa cells.

The family has not given up the fight for compensation, and nor should they.  This is yet another example of white doctors mistreating Black women patients, treating them as property and without the right to informed consent.

Continued below the fold.

[Read more…]

Target Practice: So they can get used to shooting kids

The cops in Hiram, Georgia have announced a “water gun fight”, allegedly to “build public goodwill” and “let cops connect with the community”.

I wouldn’t call this “fun” or “public relations”.  I would call it desensitization training.  If they can get used shooting children, they can shoot anyone.  From their facebook page:

Hiram Police Department

With school starting back up and the negativity being prominent in the media lately, we thought it would be best to offer an opportunity for the children of our community to get to know us, and what better way than hosting our own Operation: Water Gun. Help us bridge the gap between law enforcement and Paulding County’s Youth.

Operation: Water Gun is an event where children of all ages are encouraged to show up and battle it out with our own officers – water gun style. We will be hosting this event on Saturday, August 15th, from 12pm-2pm.

We are accepting donations, whether it is water guns or monetary donations, at the Hiram Police Department during normal business hours.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Lt. J. Crosson at jcrosson@hiram-ga.gov, Danna Lewis at dannakay72@gmail.com, or call the Hiram Police Department.

Violent bullies will repeat that behaviour whenever the opportunity arises.  You can be sure at least one kid will get targeted repeatedly, shot mercilessly with water by 10-20 cops until the kid breaks down crying.  And when a non-participating parent tries to intervene, they’ll likely get hit with water too.