With the exception of Gay Pride, summer weekends in the West Village are very quiet. Especially the mornings. I took a stroll to the Saturday Greenmarket at Abingdon Square to acquire some provisions for the week, and along the way I took a bunch of pictures with my iPhone like a goddamn tourist. I was thinking you might enjoy them.
It’s so hard sometimes to find that perfect objet d’art. You know: a little accent piece that delivers just the right pop of color, sophistication and whimsy. People who know me will tell you I am a huge thrift shop junkie, but that can be a hit-or-miss endeavor: on some days, I’d swear a marauding swarm of squirrels (with exquisite taste) devours every awesome object from all the downtown thrifts right before I get there. Fuckers.
And so, forlorn and thwarted by cruel fate, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
[CONTENT NOTE: Orlando mass shooting and related issues; rape; mental health. No violent images or graphic descriptions.]
I was quite literally rendered speechless upon learning of the tragedy in Orlando Sunday morning. I cannot say I was surprised, though; mass public shootings in the US have been increasing, and it’s no secret that conservatives have been cranking up the hate against the LGBTQ community (just as they have against women, immigrants, religious minorities, the poor, the disabled, etc., and of course none of this is a coincidence). But I did (and do) feel traumatized—as in anxious, dissociating, difficulty concentrating, overwhelming sadness and anger, waking through the night with my heart pounding, super fun stuff like that. For an artist and writer who uses art and writing to process life and the world around her, such a state is nothing short of devastating. (<-See? Dissociating. I just referred to myself in the third person for no fucking reason FFS.)
I don’t write a lot about my personal life online, for many reasons I won’t go into here. But in this case some of that is relevant, and I think perhaps worth sharing.
Union Square Park today
with obligatory statue of a d00d (it’s always a goddamn d00d) left.
Ahh, friends. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, as glorious as a city park on a spectacular day.
The Greenmarket was in full swing on the west side. And on the east: lush greens, quiet benches, hushed tones.
WAIT A MINUTE.
Oh no.
: |
NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE
#deathtosquirrels
__________
UPDATE:
UPDATE: WordPress apparently black holed a few of sentences re: Purvi Patel (and some formatting tags). I fixed it—I think.
(Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here.)
[CONTENT NOTE: While this post contains no graphic descriptions or images of violence, it does mention: rape, sexual assault and violent abuse, including against children; mental illness including suicidal ideation; hostility to consent, bodily autonomy and agency; sex- and gender-based discrimination.]
To briefly recap: While atheist Big Willie Jerry Coyne is notoriously prone to poo flinging, he also said some very interesting things in his Darwin Day lecture at the British Humanist Association (and elsewhere). I transcribed a few sections of his talk because I’d like to have a handy link to it to help shut down the font of incoherent nonsense that is conservative movement atheism. I also thought some readers here just might (a) find some of this talk as worthwhile as I do (see Part 1), and/or (b) enjoy my documenting Coyne’s insulting, dismissive, nearly comical obliviousness to his privilege (Part 2).
Part 3 focuses on a section of the Q&A wherein Coyne manages both to say some more really cool stuff, and then go into full mansplain-to-the-feminists mode and pull a classic Dear Muslima.
On my walk to dinner this fine evening, I came across something on the sidewalk I never see: a dead squirrel.
:D
Image of decomposing enemy combatant after the fold.
An Israeli start-up says it can take one look at a person’s face and realize character traits that are undetectable to the human eye…The company said its technology also can be used to identify everything from great poker players to extroverts, pedophiles, geniuses and white collar-criminals. ‘We understand the human much better than other humans understand each other,” said Faception chief executive Shai Gilboa. ‘Our personality is determined by our DNA and reflected in our face.'”
Ahh, it all makes so much sense now. DNA is why German Caucasians are so prone to committing genocide. And things like poverty, lead exposure, parenting practices and trauma have so little impact on individual behavior.
HAHAHAHA YER KILLIN ME.
Faception said it’s already signed a contract with a homeland security agency to help identify terrorists.
Ooh! Ooh! Lemme guess: ethically Arab males look an awful lot like terrorists. Because DNA. Hey, it’s not profiling! It’s a completely objective algorithm! COMPUTERS!11!!!
I am sure this amazing technology can detect leftists, too. So be careful out there!
Via The Rainforest Site:
Don’t Let The Fluffy Tail Fool You: This Vampire Squirrel Is A Killer
Vampire squirrels, people. VAMPIRE SQUIRRELS. (!!!)
The tufted ground squirrel, also known by its Latin name, Rheithrosciurus macrotis, enjoys springing through trees, eating giant acorns and communing with other squirrels. According to Bornean hunters, however, the tufted ground squirrel sometimes strays away from its usual fare in favor of a carnivorous approach.Hunters say the squirrels wait in low branches and drop onto the backs of passing muntjac. A small species of deer, the muntjac is ill matched against its surprise adversary. The squirrels skitter to the necks of the deer and quickly sever the muntjacs’ jugular veins. After that, the squirrels wait for the deer to die and then feast upon the unfortunate muntjacs’ internal organs.
Just think: you could be that muntjac.
Here’s a picture. Note the Satanic horns and the evil witch hands.
And exactly how “unusual” is this squirrel behavior, really? I mean the pouncing on the back, severing the jugular, waiting for the bleed out and devouring the internal organs.
Who even knows what these ungodly menaces are doing RIGHT NOW where there are no cameras and no one’s watching?
[h/t Morgan]
I mentioned the other day that when prominent figures in movement atheism mansplain how to feminist (or pull a Dear Muslima), it really ought to be debunked and/or mocked every time. I had envisioned “Whack-a-Mole, but with squirrels. Or possibly, douchebro atheists.”
Well. I was too lazy to work on Part 3 of the Coyne series inspired.
(Part 1 is here.)
[CONTENT NOTE: While this post contains no graphic descriptions or images of violence, it does contain discussion of: child sexual assault, abuse and death; suicide; hostility to consent, bodily autonomy and agency; homophobia; sex- and gender-based discrimination.]
Just a reminder: in the intro to Part 1, I noted that while Dr. Coyne communicates some very useful and interesting things in this lecture (and elsewhere) that readers may find worthwhile, he is exasperatingly prone to poo flinging, and I fully respect the decision of anyone who decides to pay him no attention whatsoever on this basis alone. As I said, FWIW I do not allow Coyne’s poo flinging in the remaining portions of the transcript to go unrebutted.