WHIDBEY ISLAND, Washington - It is, I guess, an open issue whether I'm crazy, or the maskers are crazy. I'm of the thought that masking of the public clearly doesn't help; this comes from all the literature around masking and influenza prior to 2020, and all the results from around the world in 2020, the complete failure to do anything about the trajectory of the virus, anywhere. I won't recapitulate the evidence in more detail here.
All I see behind the masking is do-something-ism, fear, lusts for control and eagerness for compliance and conformity.
I'm not willing to wear the masks, to go along to get along. I wore a clear visor a bit in the early months of the mask mandate, but I've now abandoned it. Haven't worn a mask of any sort in 3-4 months. I drove across the country for the holidays, largely to avoid wearing a mask for a few hours to fly. I do curbside pickup of groceries, etc.
The masking of everyone was getting to me, to the point where I was having dark thoughts, I mean really dark thoughts. I know I'm just supposed to be strong and let the lunacy around me bounce off me, but I was failing. I walk down wide open waterfront paths, or nearly deserted forest trails, and 90% of the people are either already wearing a mask, or pull it over their face as I approach, as if one or both of us are horrible bioweapons.
I moved in July, and I've not see the face of anyone I interact with on a regular basis. Not a barista, not a curbside attendant, no one.
Since I won't put on a mask, I've not been anywhere indoors except my own house for months, with the exception of the holiday road trip.
This isn't healthy for me. Part of me just wants to cave, so I can do crazy things like walk into a store, but that's exactly what the coercive establishment wants. I'm really shocked there isn't more widespread resistance. The businesses don't want trouble from the clucking 5% of masking extremists, or from health inspectors.
I've perked up a bit from a few months ago, hopefully I stay on that track. If I had a month or two more of flexibility this spring, I would have moved to a state with less arduous masking, a place where I visited on my road trip and had the simple pleasure of sitting in a coffee shop, of having smiling staff greet me. But I'm here for the duration and have to show some patience.
2021-01-31
on masks
Posted by Jeff at 1/31/2021 05:16:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: health
2018-08-26
The last competent hard bonnet tabletop hair dryer
EDMONDS, Washington
- It's amazing that the Dazey Corporation had fizzled away by the turn of the century, as they're responsible for perhaps the best consumer products of the last fifty years. I've already discussed their coffee mug warmer, now we must bow to the Lady Dazey hair dryer.
As anyone who knows me knows, much of my passion for the bonnet hair dryer is the sound; give me that low soothing rumble. The Lady Dazey has it, if you have a nice rumbling bonnet dryer it's likely this dryer, either explicitly with the Lady Dazey name or a rebranded version of the same.
Another way to know is that you have a "3-speed" dryer, it's likely this; if you see an ad that says "two speeds / two heat settings", that may make you think it has independent speed and heat settings; but it does not; it simply has two settings.
The last and most important thing is it's "only" 1200 watts; this "low" power is what gives it the great sound. Almost all new bonnet dryers are 1800+ watts, giving it the whiny high pitch that ruins the whole experience.
I've taken to buying them used; as Dazey fades further into history I may have to hoard them.
Posted by Jeff at 8/26/2018 07:03:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: health
2010-03-18
I am the éminence grise of American businesses large and small
SEATTLE, Washington
- Back in 2008 I steered Trophy Cupcakes regarding their schedule for offering their Peanut Butter & Jelly cupcake.Nice, but Seattle cupcake shops are small potatoes, so I shot for a bigger target, lobbying to get Summer Glau a featured role in movies or television.
From my lips to
Soon, Maureen Dowd will have to issue a retraction for saying that Zucker "could not program [a] network to save his life." (But she doesn't have to take back calling him a "condescending and arrogant East Coaster").
Posted by Jeff at 3/18/2010 07:57:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: ass, biz, media, summer-glau
2010-03-14
A more succinct criticism of the mental health industries
SEATTLE, Washington
- If you want to verse yourself on the core problems of the mental health industries, you can study the recent feature in The New Yorker or you can just catch this snippet of dialogue between bartender Dean and his pal Joel in the 2009 Mike Judge film Extract:
Dean: You need to take some Xanax.
Joel: Xanax? Isn't that for anxiety?
Dean: It's good for all psychological problems in the DSM-IV.
Posted by Jeff at 3/14/2010 08:59:00 PM 0 comments
SPS 2010 College Hoops Bracket
SEATTLE, Washington
-
Midwest
Round 1 Winners:
1 Kansas
8 UNLV
5 Michigan St.
4 Maryland
6 Tennessee
3 Georgetown
7 Oklahoma St.
2 Ohio St.
Round 2:
1 Kansas
5 Michigan St.
6 Tennessee
2 Ohio St.
Sweet 16:
1 Kansas
6 Tennessee
West
Round 1:
1 Syracuse
9 Florida St.
5 Butler
4 Vanderbilt
6 Xavier
3 Pittsburgh
7 BYU
2 Kansas St.
Round 2:
1 Syracuse
5 Butler
3 Pittsburgh
2 Kansas St.
Sweet 16:
1 Syracuse
2 Kansas St.
East
Round 1:
1 Kentucky
8 Texas
12 Cornell
4 Wisconsin
6 Marquette
3 New Mexico
10 Missouri
2 West Virginia
Round 2:
1 Kentucky
4 Wisconsin
6 Marquette
2 West Virginia
Sweet 16:
1 Kentucky
2 West Virginia
South
Round 1:
1 Duke
9 Louisville
5 Texas A&M
13 Siena
6 Notre Dame
3 Baylor
7 Richmond
2 Villanova
Round 2:
1 Duke
5 Texas A&M
3 Baylor
2 Villanova
Sweet 16:
5 Texas A&M
3 Baylor
Final Four
Kansas over West Virginia
Syracuse over Baylor
Kansas over Syracuse
Posted by Jeff at 3/14/2010 05:06:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: sports
2010-03-10
Pellets or Death
WASHINGTON, DC
- Years ago, Mike Ditka was pimping a product called Rust Tough, and compared it to competitor Rust-Oleum by saying "do you want TOUGH, or do you want oooohhhleum?
So it is with these anti-snail products. Do you want pellets, or do you want death?
(I'm assuming here that the Snail Pellets are in fact used to kill snails, but I see no indicator on the package that this is so.)
codicil: do snails have a face?
Posted by Jeff at 3/10/2010 07:39:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: biz
2010-03-07
The disappearing exit ramp diet
SEATTLE, Washington
- One of my consistent diet foes has been the SoDo Burger King. It's location is perfect for trapping me right after hitting golf balls at Jefferson. I get done hitting balls around 9-9:30pm, I probably ate dinner before 5pm so I'm feeling a bit hungry, and there's no BK in West Seattle so it has a bit of novelty about it. Just roll right off the ramp to 4th Ave S and right into the drive-thru - so easy, they'd have to remove the damn ramp to stop me.
And that's exactly what happened - the ramp is gone. Not barricaded, gone. Not easy to get in and out of there anymore with all the construction. Until BK brings back the Italian Chicken Sandwich it's not worth figuring out an alternate route.
Posted by Jeff at 3/07/2010 09:26:00 AM 0 comments
2010-02-28
Interesting mainstream article on "mental health"
SEATTLE, Washington
- It's nice to see some swipes being taken at the mental health industries in a mainstream publication. The New Yorker is the mainstream, an opinion maker, right? Are there actually cocktail parties where everyone stands around, the guys with a drink in one hand and the other hand in their pants pocket, which crumples up the bottom of their blazer under their forearm, as they discuss what's popped up in The New Yorker? I mean, does this happen outside of movies set in Manhattan.The chattering class can now chew on Louis Menand's article on psychiatry. The article cites many books both past and present on the topic and plucks out many nuggets regarding the shifting and dubious nature of the alleged nature and causes of "mental illness", the current decades-long push of chemical explanations and solutions, and the pathologizing of everyday thoughts and emotions.
Some clips:
There is little agreement about what causes depression and no consensus about what cures it. Virtually no scientist subscribes to the man-in-the-waiting-room theory, which is that depression is caused by a lack of serotonin, but many people report that they feel better when they take drugs that affect serotonin and other brain chemicals. [I'd swear I saw an ad the other day about how low serotonin levels cause depression - jeff]But after recounting all the dubious history Menand rolls back to a pro-psychiatric-drug position, which is pointed out by Robin Hanson with what his colleagues would call a Hansonian explanation.
..
..
As a branch of medicine, depression seems to be a mess. Business, however, is extremely good... By 2005, one out of every ten Americans had a prescription for an antidepressant. [I never cease to be shocked by these massive ratios - jeff]
..
..
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that more than fourteen million Americans suffer from major depression every year, and more than three million suffer from minor depression (whose symptoms are milder but last longer than two years). [author Gary] Greenberg thinks that numbers like these are ridiculous—not because people aren’t depressed but because, in most cases, their depression is not a mental illness. It’s a sane response to a crazy world.
Greenberg basically regards the pathologizing of melancholy and despair, and the invention of pills designed to relieve people of those feelings, as a vast capitalist conspiracy to paste a big smiley face over a world that we have good reason to feel sick about. The aim of the conspiracy is to convince us that it’s all in our heads, or, specifically, in our brains—that our unhappiness is a chemical problem, not an existential one.
..
..
It has been claimed, for example, that up to 18.7 per cent of Americans suffer from social-anxiety disorder. In “Shyness” (2007), Christopher Lane, a professor of English at Northwestern, argues that this is a blatant pathologization of a common personality trait for the financial benefit of the psychiatric profession and the pharmaceutical industry... Turning shyness into a mental disorder has many downstream consequences... Centers are established (there is now a Shyness Research Institute, at Indiana University Southeast) and scientists get funding to, for example, find “the gene for shyness”—even though there was never any evidence that the condition has an organic basis. A juggernaut effect is built into the system.
Posted by Jeff at 2/28/2010 02:39:00 PM 0 comments
2010-02-22
Eastside density proponents getting screwed - in the Sammamissionary position
SEATTLE, Washington
- I've written several times about the dyspepsia brought on in a tiny percentage of the Seattle population when developers want to make substantive investments that may result in some small change to the "character" of the community. The sourness apparently extends to the suburbs, as the Sammamish city council voted 5-2 to squash a plan for increased density in an under-development part of town.
This being government, they didn't shoot down the plan, they shot down a plan to start thinking about the plan:
What council was asked to decided on Tuesday night was not whether to allow that level of commercial density, but whether or not to begin a process of considering that level of commercial density, as part of an annual Comprehensive Plan revision.Later in the article, the author notes that both the county and state governments have set growth targets that some communities have to meet. What to do, what to do... layer after layer of government engaged in turf and numbers wars while developers sit around waiting with their thumbs up their asses.
Posted by Jeff at 2/22/2010 08:13:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: zoning
2010-02-19
Landscapers: may want to join the 21st century and make websites
SEATTLE, Washington
- When I Google around West Seattle and environs for landscapers, it's sad how few have a website to check out. It's a pretty visual thing, landscaping, a few pics can help a guy to make decisions.
I guess any dude with a wheelbarrow, a shovel, and a cell phone pitches himself as a landscaping concern, no web site needed.
I don't want to be reduced to consulting the phone book on this matter.
Posted by Jeff at 2/19/2010 10:16:00 AM 0 comments
2010-02-18
Some notes on recently screened movies
SEATTLE, Washington
-
The Hurt Locker: This is why I usually don't bother with war movies - they all seem to have the same cast of characters. The wild and crazy guy, the play-by-the-rules guy, the young scared guy who gets killed or maimed, the Black guy - over and over. Even the great Mr Kubrick fell right into stereotype with Full Metal Jacket.
Pierrot Le Fou: I used to say that Alphaville was the most Euro movie I've seen. Euro as an adjective. Well, we have a new champion - Pierrot Le Fou. The new most Euro movie ever.
Waterworld: Bad as expected.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence: An unmitigated disaster! I knew it would not be the darker movie Kubrick would have done - but come on. Someone owes a dead guy an apology.
Posted by Jeff at 2/18/2010 10:00:00 PM 0 comments
2010-02-13
Someone once pestered me about my electricity usage - I ate his liver with some fava beans
SEATTLE, Washington
- I'm one of the lucky 20,000 Seattle City Light customers selected to receive condescending lectures about their electricity usage. I'm now burdened with bar graphs and smiley-face ratings concerning my electricity use relative to the use of my neighbors.
These are the people who sell me electricity. They should be lobbying me to use more, not less. They should be trying to sell me my own Large Hadron Collider, not telling me to use CFLs.
The folks who deliver these sorts of lectures don't seem to understand that we don't use electricity for the pleasure of seeing the big number on our bill, we use it because it makes our life better.
The implication of this image is that I'm spending too much on electricity, because look, some of my neighbors are using less. I look at this as me having a better life than my neighbors. How much better? At least $198 better, or else I wouldn't be spending it.
There's so much more to the story of comparing electricity usage than looking at these raw numbers - for instance, I work at home, so I have 2-3 computers and lights burning that many others won't have. Of course the busybodies have an answer for this; their literature implores me and the other victims of this "assistance" to contact them and tell them all about our life, so they can fine-tune their reports.
The real reason this program exists is that some people get a special thrill out of lecturing people, but the putative reason is concern about carbon emissions. (In fact if you go to the city climate web site they'll assign you a "carbon coach"). But if you look at the most recent (2006) figures, the power supplied by Seattle City Light is more than 89% hydro, and only about 2% comes from carbon-emitting sources. My breathing while walking back and forth to Bakery Nouveau probably emits more carbon than my electricity usage.
I'd really rather have a private electricity provider, motivated by good old fashioned "greed", than a public utility that uses me as a captive audience for their lecturing.
Posted by Jeff at 2/13/2010 09:30:00 AM 2 comments
2010-02-09
Ben & Jerry's declares victory in fight against extreme global poverty
SEATTLE, Washington
- I've spent enough time posted up in front of the ice cream freezer at the supermarket to notice when there's a subtle change. It's like seeing the cat twice in The Matrix. My senses tingled when I saw "Cheesecake Brownie" flavor in the case today.This flavor used to be called "ONE Cheesecake Brownie" and proceeds benefited the ONE Campaign, an advocacy group concerned with fighting poverty and preventable diseases. I guess the goals have been achieved. Where's the money going now, Messrs Ben and Jerry? Obscene profits? Executive perks?
Still tastes good.
This is the most subtle name change at least since ESPN's Rome is Burning morphed into Jim Rome is Burning. Maybe even since USAir became US Airways in the 1990s.
Posted by Jeff at 2/09/2010 12:43:00 PM 0 comments
2010-02-04
Look the hell out Oregon, Richard M. Daley is coming for your businesses
SEATTLE, Washington
- As we all know here in the Northwest, Chicago plucked Boeing's corporate headquarters away from Seattle in 2001. A coup to be sure, but not nearly enough to satisfy the appetites of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, who is responding to Oregon's recent, ill-advised tax increases by criticizing their bash-the-"rich" premise and promising greener pastures in Illinois:“What happened in Oregon is not good news for Oregon. They believe that anybody who makes $125,000 or more [annually] or businesses or anyone who makes $250,000 — they’re gonna start taxing them. They call them ‘rich people,’ ” the mayor said.He's acting like this whole tax the successful thing is new, it's not, but I appreciate the sentiment.
“I’ve always thought America stands for [rewarding success]. You finish high school. You work hard, go to college and you hope to succeed in life. I never knew it’s a class war—that those who succeed in life are the ones that have to bear all the burden. I never realized that. It will be a whole change in America that those who succeed and work hard [that] we’re gonna tax ‘em more than anyone else.”
Daley said Oregon’s tax blunder spells opportunity for Chicago.You hear that, Oregon? He's not just blowing hot air from 1,800 miles away - he's sending operatives to Oregon to seduce the businesses there.
“It will help our economic development immediately. You’d better believe it. We’ll be out in Oregon enticing corporations to relocate to Chicago. I’ll be very frank. I make no bones about that. If those states want to do that, so be it,” he said.
Now this may all be smoke, mirrors and propaganda - the commenters on the Sun Times story linked above are killing Daley for hypocrisy, for his bloated and corrupt government, etc., and
Still, if you treat the productive class as an ATM machine they may just decide to move on; this is true both for individuals and businesses.
Posted by Jeff at 2/04/2010 04:53:00 PM 0 comments
2010-01-28
Satanism - bad for pedestrians
WASHINGTON, DC
- Washington, screw you and your Freemasonry/Satanism based spoke-hub street layout. It seems to take about ten minutes to cross some of these things on foot.
Note below, I shot the photo of that sign from its good side - the sidewalk. Because if you're in a car on the street, the crack DC sign crews planted the sign of parking policies for the street about two feet from the street map, blocking it from view.
Posted by Jeff at 1/28/2010 06:48:00 AM 0 comments
2010-01-25
Haiti seems to be getting more attention than other recent large earthquakes
WASHINGTON, DC
- The Haiti situation has certainly gotten a large and deserved share of national and international attention. I even watched a bit of the Clooney telethon, and in fact donated during that time - via the web, of course, I didn't want to risk calling in, having John Cusack answer my call, and end up berating him regarding his recent film choices.
I always remind myself at times like these, that it's just a dumb accident of the cosmos that I was born in New Jersey and not someplace like Haiti and that I have a cushy life because of this, that it's just luck that I'm not one of the tens of thousands of sudden orphans.
But I have noticed - there seems to be a lot more attention on addressing the situation in Haiti than I've seen for other recent earthquakes similar casualty counts.
An earthquake in Iran in 2003 killed 31,000 people. All I remember about that quake was that Iran refused help from Israel.
Earthquakes in Pakistan in 2005 and China in 2008 each killed about 87,000 people.
I don't remember a massive all-media response or celebrity-studded telethons tied to those quakes.
There was the 2004 quake and subsequent tsunami in Indonesia, and I do remember that getting a good amount of attention.
But things have gotten very acute for this Haiti situation. Is it because the casualty count is much higher relative to the population size of the country than the other incidents? Something else? I don't know.
All this awareness is not bad, I'm just noting my observation.
Posted by Jeff at 1/25/2010 04:38:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: news
2010-01-19
The Phone Book is not going down without a fight
SEATTLE, Washington
- I got a few more phone books deposited on my stoop last week, bringing to seven the number of phone books I have that are officially "current" (i.e. labeled as being good until June 2010 or all of 2010).
And I tossed a few phone books out last year, so it's possible that if I had checked dates before disposing of (er, recycling) them, I'd have more than seven current ones.
My landline is from Qwest, so I guess I expect a few Dex books, but I have no relationship at all with Verizon yet they deliver three phone books to me. I guess enough people are still putting ads in big yellow phone books to make it economically viable to print and distribute them.
The oddest thing of all - the White Pages. Not only is this useless, but if you think about it a bit it creeps you out - "here's a big book full of the names, addresses, and phone numbers of everyone in the city!" And nowadays, it's not even close to being everyone, it's just older people who haven't abandoned landlines and didn't have the sense to tell the phone company to exclude them from the book.
Posted by Jeff at 1/19/2010 07:37:00 PM 1 comments
2010-01-15
Why do men cheat? Two Jews think they have the answer
SEATTLE, Washington
- When Dennis Prager and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach get together to debate, you know one thing: someone's gonna get cracked over the head with a folding chair. If Michael Medved is also invited, it could turn into a full-scale donnybrook.
Mr Medved was nowhere in sight two days ago as Rabbi Shmuley (author of Kosher Sex) and Mr Prager (author of Happiness is a Serious Problem and, it must be said, two divorces) vigorously presented their views on the question of Why Men Cheat.
Video of the two hour event is archived at The Jewish Journal. Rabbi Shmuley did lapse into speaking Hebrew, but only briefly.
Found at Luke Ford
Posted by Jeff at 1/15/2010 04:29:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: ass
2010-01-14
No I haven't lost weight but thanks for mentioning it
SEATTLE, Washington
- When you're me, and you're continually dancing around on the boundary between somewhat overweight and somewhat more overweight, people seem to feel compelled to automatically tell you that you look like you've lost weight when they're seeing you for the first time in a while. It's damn near automatic. Due to work circumstances I'm seeing lots of people that I haven't seen in 1-4 years and they instantly comment that I look thinner.
I'm not thinner. I keep track of these things. I've had quite a bit of trouble getting motivated to diet after swearing off the pursuit of women a year ago and I'm near all-time weight highs.
When I grow a beard, people say the beard looks great, makes you look thinner. When I shave off the beard they say great, being clean-shaven makes you look thinner.
There's only two times - August 1998 and September 2004 - when my weight was higher than it is now. Unless I have achieved some sort of greater density, or unless those specific months were the last time you saw me, I'm not thinner now than when you last saw me.
Posted by Jeff at 1/14/2010 08:45:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: health
2010-01-05
Mike Holmgren sounds like Don Lucchesi
SEATTLE, Washington
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Mike Holmgren, discussing the future of Eric Mangini:
When egos get in the way, it destroys the team. My goal is to have everyone thinking in a like manner, going in the same direction. Let's put the egos aside.Don Lucchesi, in The Godfather Part III:
Yes -- you will take control. We’ll gladly put you at the helm of our little fleet. But our ships, must all sail in the same direction. Otherwise, who can say how long, your stay with us will last? It’s not personal, it’s only business.Look out, Mr Mangini - we all know how things turned out in The Godfather Part III. Don't we?
Posted by Jeff at 1/05/2010 10:12:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: godfather, movies, sports, X imitates Y
2010-01-03
They don't make coffee mug warmers like they used to
SEATTLE, Washington
- I've had my Dazey 1400 coffee warmer since the late 1990s. It's so old that the plastic is all cracked, the metal plate has actually separated from the plastic, and most of the brown marks on it are not dirt or stains, they're burns. Still, I've kept using it as it keeps the coffee at the correct temperature with its 25 watts of power. This warmer was discontinued years ago.Usually I'm the only person I can find with some absurd loyalty to a humble product like this, but from reading reviews of other warmers looks like I have a lot of company:
...My old Dazey CW-10 (25 watts) is still getting the job done, but I wonder how much longer it can last...Still I need another warmer so I bought the Mr Coffee black warmer. With a pathetic 17 watts of power I did not get my hopes up, and in a side-by-side comparison with my Dazey it's clearly not keeping the coffee as warm.
...I agree with the other reviews that the Rival coffee cup warmer barely warms the cup, much less the contents. The Dazey has 25 watts, and that makes a big difference...
...After ten plus years of use, the heating element of my Dazey Corp. coffee warmer died. With 25 watts it has been the best. I wish I could find another...
...I agree with the other person who mentioned "Dazey Cup Warmer" I also have been try'g to find a mug warmer to compare to it...
...We all miss the old 25 watt Dazey warmers...
...I know it's called a beverage warmer, but it barely does that. I wouldn't recommend this at all. I had a cup warmer by Dazey (can't find it now) and it kept my drink HOT, as it should...
There's rumor of a 23 watt warmer in Australia so I finally have a reason to vacation there.
UPDATE 2012/12/30: I knocked the warmer off my desk by accident and it shattered into a few pieces. While I could probably try to re-assemble this I think the time has come. I gave it a dignified disposal. RIP. 1998-2012.
Posted by Jeff at 1/03/2010 02:28:00 PM 39 comments
2010-01-01
Year in Review
SEATTLE, Washington
- My past year via the Facebook status collage app:
Posted by Jeff at 1/01/2010 09:39:00 AM 0 comments
2009-12-27
Only some criminals have cachet
SEATTLE, Washington
- The biographical page
One of the most provocative literary figures of the twentieth century, Jean Genet - like Villon and Rimbaud - is in the great French tradition of the writer-criminal.Should the writer be the only criminal that we romanticize in this way? I guess combining writer and criminal results in something interesting to us. I've tried to think of another example:
The secretary-criminal
The therapist-criminal
The engineer-criminal
The barista-criminal
The endocrinologist-criminal
The sculptor-criminal
The seamstress-criminal
Nothing seems to be working.
* I'm trying to find out what the biographical page of a book is called, without success.
** This one has potential, if you include Freudian psychoanalysis, which was one of the great frauds of the 20th century. I don't know if "therapist" instead of "analyst" is a correct term for those charlatans.
Posted by Jeff at 12/27/2009 10:57:00 AM 0 comments
2009-12-16
Happy belated National Cupcake Day
WASHINGTON, DC
- I guess repeatedly sampling cupcakes hither and yon made me so immune to cupcake news that I didn't even manage to notice that yesterday was National Cupcake Day (in the USA).
I need a new food hobby, as I've gained weight this year. Maybe time to move on to fine cheeses.
Posted by Jeff at 12/16/2009 09:36:00 AM 0 comments
2009-12-09
Black women not making headway with Tiger Woods (or anyone else)
SEATTLE, Washington
- It was only a matter of time before a commentator would note a certain similarity in the physical appearance of all the women popping up in the Tiger Woods conquest gallery. Eugene Robinson:Here's my real question, though: What's with the whole Barbie thing?Mr Robinson dances around a bit, but we know what your main concern is, sir - none of the women are black.
No offense to anyone who actually looks like Barbie, but it really is striking how much the women who've been linked to Woods resemble one another. I'm talking about the long hair, the specific body type, even the facial features. Mattel could sue for trademark infringement.
..
..
But the world is full of beautiful women of all colors, shapes and sizes -- some with short hair or almond eyes, some with broad noses, some with yellow or brown skin. Woods appears to have bought into an "official" standard of beauty that is so conventional as to be almost oppressive.
This reminded me of a comment about Tiger's preference in women that was made back in April of 2002, during the winning call of The Jim Rome Show's Smack-Off for that year. This was after Tiger had bagged Elin but before they were married, and the caller, Jeff in Richmond, made some comments about the relationship and then said "by the way, Tiger... can't a sister get a break?" (clip here)
Let us not single out Tiger for dodging black women - in fact, they're being dodged by American men of all races, at least if this analysis by okcupid.com is representative of the population as a whole. The two matrices below show write-back rates broken down by race; one is for female senders, and the other is for male senders. These are not across the entire population of responses, but only the responses where the sender and the recipient were considered a "match" by okcupid's match algorithm.
I circled the two lines of interest, but I didn't have to as they stick out just by their color-coding - black women are more likely to have their response to an ad ignored, and more likely to write back to someone who initiates contact.
Sounds like, no, a sister can't get a break.
chick gallery from Celebslam
Posted by Jeff at 12/09/2009 07:05:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: ass, shame, X imitates Y