#also let's be real. the UK's financial situation is Also Fucked

[fingerless-glovez]

Twisted Wonderland Vice Housewarden Persona AU

TW mentions of death

No beastmen, merfolk, or fae outside the Shadow World

NRC is a normal non-magic school in a modern setting (Either UK or US but probably UK)

Everyone lives in their own house 

^ Working title

To enter, you must find the places where the most blot from one person accumulates and dive into the ink

Anyone who hasn't been in the Shadow World can't see or feel the blot. The only exceptions to this is are the Velvet Room residents and Yuu, who unlocks the ability after their first interaction with Igor

Someone who can see the blot can bring those who can't into the Shadow World if they have physical contact while transitioning between worlds (ex: holding hands or bumping into each other)

Those who get sucked into the Shadow World are brought to a place that represents the state of their hearts (aka the dorms)

Think of the dorms as Palaces

They also change into their dorm uniforms and kind of wander around until they meet their shadow (overblot) selves 

They can't leave until they either die or decide to move on from whatever turmoil they're going through that brought them here

The shadow selves manipulate their real-world counterparts into letting them take control until they use too much power and die

The shadow forms become the overblot entities when they capture and take over their host

Once a shadow is defeated, the real world counterparts can leave, but they have to get out before the place implodes on them because the shadow is gone

When someone dies of overblot, their bodies return to where they last were in the real world covered in ink

This has been happening a lot recently, which prompts Igor to summon Yuu to deal with it

(WIP)

The squad is called the Vice Wardens

When they get their Personas their outfits change to their dorm uniforms 

Yuu is the wild card. Yuu's first Persona is either the Ramshackle ghosts. Their Arcana is the Fool and their weapon is a large hammer

They're a first-year transfer student that was found unconscious somewhere and has no ID or anyone to contact 

Leader of the Vice Wardens and, of course, the resident therapist 

Grim doesn’t have a Persona yet, his Arcana is undetermined, and his weapon is hand claws

Joins during the prologue

Grim is in both a Teddie and Morgana situation where he's a shadow but doesn't know it, and when he's in the real world he's just a regular cat that only the team can understand 

Trey's Persona is the Mad Hatter, his Arcana is Temperance and his weapon is a sword 

Joins during the Riddle arc

Before Kalim joined the squad, his house somehow became the team meeting spot. He did NOT agree to this arrangement

ESPECIALLY since his teammates decided it was more appropriate to climb through his window instead of knocking on the door like normal people

Ruggie’s Persona is Shezi, his Arcana is undetermined, and his weapon is undetermined

Joins during the Leona arc

Lives with his grandma and forgoes school to work and help support her financially 

Ruggie can’t afford to attend NRC, but he does sneak in to meet up with the others. And steal food from the cafeteria 

Gets his hyena features with his Vice Warden uniform

Jade's Persona is Jetsam, his Arcana is the Wheel Of Fortune and his weapon is a spear 

Joins during the Azul arc

The team weapons dealer. You give him money, he gets you upgraded artillery. Where and how does he get it? That is an excellent question.

Gets his eel features with his Vice Warden uniform.

Kalim’s Persona is the Sultan, his Arcana is the Star, and his weapon is a staff

Joins during the Jamil arc

Happy sunshine boy

His house becomes the meeting spot because it's super big and Kalim’s room is very soundproof 

Rook’s Persona is the Huntsman, his Arcana is undetermined, and his weapon is a bow and arrows

Joins during the Vil arc, but is involved with the Shadow World prior to that

This fucking guy has been following the squad into the Shadow World since Trey joined the team in the FIRST ARC

Dude is fascinated by the whole “entering people’s hearts” thing and even more fascinated the Vice Wardens

Jade is the first to realize that they’re being watched and the others are FLOORED when they find out how long he’s been following them

The only reason he’s not dead yet is because he’s a hardcore survivalist and always brings his bow and arrows with him

Ortho’s Persona is Hercules, his Arcana is undetermined, and he is the Navigator

Joins during the Idia arc, but is involved with the Shadow World prior to that

Works for STYX, an organization trying to study the blot and the deaths linked to it

Goes into the Shadow World to do field research by studying the Shadow selves and the Vice Wardens

His job is to buff, heal, analyze the opponent, and occasionally contribute in All-Out Attacks.

Being a robot, he doesn't attend NRC, but he does sneak in to meet up with the others.

Lilia's Persona is the three good fairies, his Arcana is the World, and his weapon is a cleaver

One Yuu's first allies and mentor for Shadow stuff

Joins during the prologue

Poses as a high schooler and transfers to NRC to gain access to the areas in the school that blot accumulates

Gets his fae features with his Vice Warden uniform

(Spoilers for chapter 7, scroll until the next image)

______________________________________________________________

Lilia was a wildcard that used his Persona powers to protect Briar Valley against a diety, but the diety decided to play dirty and manipulated the kingdom of Dawn to start the war, thus limiting Lilia from his fighting capacity.

Lilia's Persona was unresponsive due to all the changes in behavior and the mourning over the lost lives, but years later, he gained his first Persona back, weaker, when he decided to raise Silver. So with time, his Persona could grow stronger and Lilia could realize that his time as the lone fighter is over and that he needs to train the new Persona users to team up together and succeed where he alone failed.

^ (credit to @lowkeyclueless5137 for the specifics of Lilia’s backstory)

______________________________________________________________

The Velvet Room takes the form of the Mirror Chamber 

But instead of the Dark Mirror it's Igor 

Yuu enters through a coffin in the ceremonial robes

Ace and Deuce are the Velvet Room attendants

Ace’s Arcana is Strength and Deuce’s is the Chariot

They work together to do fusions, where Ace has his playing cards and Deuce has the giant book

Sometimes they fight and cause a fusion fail, which I’m sure surprises no one

Ace can often be seen in the real world hanging out with the team or annoying people

That’s how he meets Yuu, and Trey later on

Deuce usually stays in the Velvet Room, but if he has Igor’s permission, he’ll go hang out with Yuu

Deuce has some… issues

Due to some bad experiences in the past, he’s nervous about going to the real world

Basically: Unfamiliarity with human customs/social cues + People that really suck = Pent up anger that he sometimes loses control of

Yuu tries to help. Ace does not.

That's all I have for now. Ideas and criticism are always welcome! :)

[thedreadvampy]

open question: what are the remaining arguments for Scotland being in the Union? bc as I recall the main arguments used in 2014 were:

Access to UK funding for public services (after over a decade of Tory rule that's not looking so hot)

Keeping the pound (literally who cares)

Scottish pensions are safer in a UK wide system (glances over at the climbing age for eligibility to state pension)

we rely on trade with the rest of the UK. how could we leave that behind? (this would be a fair point if it wasn't entirely in the UK's power to continue that trade and open borders. I mean the UK government is composed entirely on spite and soft power so they might not but. Brexit didn't stop trade between Ireland and Northern Ireland did it hey?)

Scotland wouldn't want to have to reapply to join the EU, they can stay on Britain's membership! (lol)

Voting Yes would be "a leap into the dark" compared to the lovely stable leadership of the UK (stop stop my sides are splitting)

Like even in 2014 the Better Together campaign was pretty pathetic and the only thing it could think of to say was 'but we already HAVE a union it's going to be SO MUCH WORK to do things differently' and trying to cherry pick Things That Are Good To Have In The UK rather than, idk, Unique Benefits Of The UK That Are Impossible In Non UK Contexts.

but the thing is that in the last 8 years let's be real. the UK has fallen further and further behind and while in 2014 the Yes pitch was Let's Strike Out For A Brave If Uncertain Future now it's a lot more Water Is Pouring In Through Every Crack It's Time To Depart This Ship

the only good argument I can see for voting no in a second indyref is: if the SNP are gone who's going to be an opposition in Westminster? cause it sure as shit isn't Labour despite their responsibility to do so.

(my hope has always been that Scottish independence might over time rebalance the English political spectrum. like if the English centre-left lose the big anti-Tory strongholds in Scotland and lose the SNP in Westminster there'll be a gap to fill. not sure how much I believe that after the last decade though, tbh I think at this point it's more that either way England and Wales are fucked and public opinion means worse than nothing, so Scotland might as well bail out and try and do better solo.)

[waitingforminjae]

would anybody like to hear my cutie pie rewrite? too bad here it is:

same initial premise - kuea's parents groomed him to be lian's child bride + forced lian into the engagement via their monetary power over lian and his family. as a result kuea would do literally anything for lian to love him back, but lian doesn't love him like that, and can't.

however, in my version, lian became woke to all this and unlearned a lot of that shit and saw it for what it was when he was in college, in part thanks to his friend's pointing out that being engaged to a 10 yr old was "fucking pedo shit". he's been working for years to get out from under the thumb of kuea's family, and harbors an immense amount of guilt and responsibility towards kuea for the part he played in kuea's grooming - which has severely fucked up kuea in incredibly damaging ways.

for kuea, he had his eyes opened by diao when they met in the uk, who was also like "um bestie u were fucking groomed holy shit". while in the uk, diao helps kuea find things that he likes (drumming, singing, motorcycles) and slowly kuea begins to build his real self and identity that isn't tied to lian's happiness/love. he doesn't trust lian, because he is still too young to understand that lian was forced into this - and as the minor who was groomed, he doesn't particularly care. lian was still an adult who hurt him.

lian and yi are involved in a batshit toxic friends w benefits situation that involves a lot of angry sex and frustrated blowjobs in bathrooms that everyone knows about but that both of them refuse to acknowledge. yi's been in love w lian since college but is too emotionally repressed to acknowledge it even tho everyone knows, including lian who still uses him for sex and knows that it's all fucked up and is absolutely gonna implode one day but it hasn't yet so they just kinda keep doing it.

yi is the one who introduced diao to motorbiking, and then diao got in a wreck and got a brain injury and lost his memories and yi, who liked the boy (platonically) even tho he'd never admit it, freaked out and felt guilty so now he's overprotective to the point of being abusive of diao, who is initially milder after his injury bc he's lost and confused bc yi won't fucking tell him anything. but he has a spine of steel and a temper and most importantly serves major cunt so he doesn't let yi push him around for long before he snaps. so they're having screaming matches all the time bc diao needs freedom and yi needs control and it's intense and (mutually) violent. yet, at the same time yi likes that diao is so bold and self-confident because he desperately wishes he was that way, but he's just a loser and he knows it. so he's jealous, too.

kuea and diao have a healthy college friends w benefits thing going on but mostly they're just dating in a way that just kinda happened naturally so neither of them are quiet aware of it. they mostly just go motorbiking, hanging out at that club where kuea performs, and studying/playing w their friends.

lian has been slowing transferring all of kuea's families assets to his own accounts, in addition to doing his best to separate his money and businesses from their influence. he's does all this under the guise of still being 100% locked into this engagement and pretending to be on their side - which further confuses kuea bc lian doesn't tell him his actual plans, even though he's also been secretly putting some of the money/assets into an account for kuea so he can be financially independent from his family. he also helps him w his music career. anything he can do to help and support kuea, to make up in some small way for what he allowed to happen to him.

at no point does the story let you forget that kuea was groomed, and lian was forced to be an accomplice in that grooming. they are both victims - and how they respond to that "engagement" and the trauma and life-long damage it has inflicted on their pysches and lives is what drives the characters and narrative. kuea's family are explicitly the antagonists.

[fucktheoryquestions]

On The Economics of Higher Education

I would like to ask you a question I've been thinking of for a while, if you have the time. I have just started my PhD in Anthropology in University of Helsinki, and I have been involved in quite a few student campaigns against university reforms (of neoliberal kind). Yet still all our universities are public institutions, there are no tuition fees and all students receive student allowance, so our situation is quite different than in, say, UK and US. I've been able to study two majors without acquiring any debt, which is quite common here. My question is: Do you think university system that is publicly funded and free for all students (and adjunct staff is payed comparatively well) still has some of the irredeemable qualities that you describe in your critique of US elite universities? Best wishes, Viljami Kankaanpää-Kukkonen

Hi, I appreciate the question, thanks for letting me respond publicly so I don’t have to answer it more than once.  

Before I answer your question let me say what perspective I’m speaking from.  I’ve been in the US for 10 years.  My involvement in American academia was mostly at private institutions on the East Coast, though I took a few seminars and spent time at Rutgers and CUNY, as well. Before that, I did my undergraduate education in Berlin at the Free University.  I was in the last generation of students at the FU who graduated with a traditional German Magister degree; even before I graduated, the FU began to implement the accords of the Bologna Process, which aimed to unify educational standards across the EU and which led to a splitting of the Magister degree into American-style BA and MA programs.  I haven’t been involved in European academia in the past 10 years.  My “data” consists in 10-year-old experience with the German system; extensive 10-year-old familiarity with the British and French systems; and passing 10-year-old acquaintance with the Italian and Dutch systems.  I’m sure that higher education in Europe has changed a great deal in the past 10 years in response to the pressures and forces you describe as “neoliberal,” so take everything I say in light of these ongoing developments.  

Very simply put:  the more “Americanized” an educational system becomes, the more its structure and consequences will resemble the structure and consequences of the American education system.  The most distinctive feature of the American university system is its exorbitant cost, and its relation to debt and hence to the labor market.  So the shortest answer I can give you is No, a free or cheap university system does not share all the dangerous implications of the American system.  That said, the disciplinary and organizational nature of the European system is very similar to the American system and growing more so.  I don’t think humans are “rational actors,” but I do think we constantly perform conscious or unconscious cost/benefit analysis, and I think it’s easy to see why the cost of an American higher education is much greater than the cost of a European higher education, not only in dollars but also in anxiety, in preparation, and in non-academic lifestyle commitments required to access and survive the university. The higher the cost of attending a European university becomes, the more that system will resemble the American one 

That’s the short answer, and anyone who’s reading this can feel free to stop reading here; the rest of this post is just an elaboration.  

Your e-mail mentions “other countries” generally, but I’m not comfortable speaking about countries I don’t know enough about. I’ve met and studied with and read papers by academics from all over the world, and I know some vague stories, but that’s not the same thing as having concrete knowledge of economic relations, so I’m going to localize the rest of my response and frame it as a comparison between the American and the European systems with which I’m familiar.  

* 

A free university system cannot engage the same socio-economic relation to the labor market and to personal debt that the American university system currently engages.  The difference has to do with a different relation of the institution to the state and to private capital, as well as to the job market and to relations of labor and production more generally.  For these reasons, I consider the European university less irredeemable and pernicious than the American one.  

It shares many of the same features and problems, especially on the inside of the institution and in the production of knowledge, but I think the social role of the university is less compromised and dangerous and I think European universities could be improved more easily than American ones – for now. As we’ve already noted, the twin ideologies of privatization and austerity are pushing hard to “Americanize” higher education in Europe and elsewhere.  The more successful these efforts are, the more irredeemable the university becomes.

Before I continue, please note that while I’m less critical of the European university system, I’m not holding it up as an ideal or a model or ignoring its very real problems.  For example, I discuss the non-academic (vocational/professional) higher education system in many European countries as opening up more paths to financial stability than are available in the US.  I stand behind that claim, but I’m also very aware that the parallel higher education systems in Europe have a classist function and a classist history, serving mostly to route upper and upper-middle class students to universities and poorer students to vocational schools.  I’m also keenly aware that I went to university in a city (Berlin) that has more Turkish residents than Ankara, but I can count on one hand the number of Turkish students that sat in seminar rooms with me at that university. Etc., etc.  This is not an encomium to the European higher ed system, it’s just a description of some crucial differences.  

There are at least three major differences between the American and the European higher education systems:   

·      Debt

·      Non-academic higher education

·      Public system only vs. public/private dual system

I’ll expand on all these, but first we can observe that despite a profound difference in the economic relations in which the university is embedded, a fascinating aspect of the question is that there is fairly little difference between higher education systems in terms of content and style.  You find the same plodding, obfuscatory writing; the same laborious processes of peer review; the same behind-the-scenes politicking and reputation-based privilege; the same interests and questions, though often with different approaches or angles; and most importantly, the same canon of concepts and thinkers and disciplines.  This fact reinforces my belief that the discourse of the university performs a similar organizing social function (what Gramsci describes as “traditional” intellectual activity) everywhere, regardless of the specific hegemonic structure it’s serving or upholding.  In this context, it’s worth distinguishing a critique of the university as an institution embedded in a specific economy from a critique of the discourses produced in the institution.  These aren’t separate questions:  there’s only one economy.  But these questions operate in different registers, because the critique of the production of knowledge goes all the way back to Plato and beyond while the critique of the university’s current economic entanglements can’t go beyond the material history of those entanglements while remaining in any way immanent.  

Back to the three big differences I listed.

Debt is the biggest one, by far.  

I graduated from a European university debt-free. I paid registration fees every semester and I had to house and feed myself, but I didn’t have to pay exorbitant tuition fees.  I certainly didn’t have to take out a loan at the age of 18 that would follow me the rest of my life.  This difference is the single most important difference, because it doesn’t just change other relations, it changes the weight of other relations.  A damaging situation is bad; a damaging situation is 100 times worse if you have no way of getting out of it or putting it behind you.  

If you’re German and you get into a university and you find it utterly unbearable and traumatizing, you can just leave. You’ve spent some time, you might disappoint yourself or other people, but you’re not in debt, your parents didn’t spend $80,000.  If you’re 20 years old and you’ve already signed the loan papers and you’re $80,000 in debt already after just 4 semesters, you’re going to think really fucking hard about starting over in a different program, or leaving school to do something non-academic.  You’re much more likely to stay on a path you’re not happy with.  And even if you do make the choice to leave, that debt can still follow you around the rest of your life unless you manage to adjust very effectively to a highly profitable new career path.  If you spent $160,000 on a law degree from Yale then start practicing law and discover you absolutely hate it, you’re probably going to practice law for a few years anyway because otherwise you’re changing careers $160,000 in debt (that’s one hundred and sixty THOUSAND dollars).  Minimum wage in Connecticut is currently $10.10 dollars an hour 

Maybe this isn’t the case any more, but 15 years ago in much of Europe, you could decide academia wasn’t for you, leave the university, and get a job in a restaurant that would pay all your bills. In other words, you could shift gears to a much lower-pressure lifestyle without serious consequences.  But imagine if you have serious student debt and you have $500 deducted from your salary each month?  Suddenly you have earn more, even if you want a low-key lifestyle; you take on another job, or you find a job that’s higher-pressure even though you want to shift gears or whatever.  

The costs of debt – in labor, in health, in anxiety – are enormous.  In this way, there is a much tighter and more vicious link between higher education and the labor market in American than in Europe.  There’s no other way to put it – the structure and pressures of the American system mean that Americans have to work, constantly, grindingly, in a way that many (not all) Europeans just don’t have to and honestly can’t understand.  The American system presents a double bind:  either you are bound to the labor market by debt because you did go to school, or you’re bound to the labor market by necessity because you didn’t go to school and are locked out of higher-paying jobs.  The American university system is locked into the economy in a way that presents three options only:  serve the system at the top; serve the system at the bottom; or succeed against all odds by being truly exceptional and carving out a space for yourself alongside the system or breaking into it in an unexpected way. There are very few paths to genuine economic prosperity that don’t run through the university system somehow.  

The situation in the US hasn’t always been so dire; it got bad under Reagan and has been getting worse ever since.  For a couple of decades after World War II, the G.I. Bill and a flood of money to universities made public higher education really affordable in the U.S. for many people.  In the ‘60s or ‘70s in the U.S. (so I’m told, I wasn’t here), you could flip burgers for three months during the summer and save up enough money for a year’s tuition at a good state school if you were an in-state student; I doubt that’s still the case anywhere in the U.S., and certainly not at the more prestigious state schools.    

Now that the American “middle class” has effectively vanished, we can see what role the university had in making that class disappear.  An absolutely crucial element in that process was the defunding of public universities at the state and federal level, which led to massive tuition hikes that have made tuition at the most prestigious public universities almost as high as those at prestigious private ones.  Capitalism played a major role in that process, because university pass their costs on to students by framing the rising costs as the availability of additional features, from trendy new disciplines to massive, ridiculous sports facilities.  This is a “client-centered” approach to education that directly prioritizes students who can afford to pay.  Basically, America no longer has a state-sponsored, debt-free path to prosperity, which Europe still does…for now.  Defunding of universities and tuition hikes are the changes that will most quickly introduce debt as a decisive factor and bring the European system in line with the American one, with massive implications for the entire economy, not just for academia in some isolated, abstract way.  Keeping the European university system free or at least cheap is unspeakably important and probably impossible at this point.  

The relation between the education system and the labor market is also different in that many European countries have vocational or professional higher education that isn’t academic.  That’s the second big difference.  Craft and trade apprenticeships represent an important bloc that has no equivalent in the US, where most internships are professional position you get after you do a BA, and not instead of doing a BA (not always, but often).  There are often but not always alternatives to university-style education in Europe.  German interns (Auszubildende, or Azubis) are usually paid and can access no-interest government loans to support themselves when they aren’t.  Many people I knew in Germany in the 2000s finished an academic Magister degree and then went on to do an Ausbildung in a completely different area (sound design, lighting tech, theater management) which then became their actual career.  Here again the major difference is debt – you don’t need to take on massive debt to study nursing or hotel management in much of Europe – but there is also a difference in the need for critique of the institution.  Simply put, if there are effective non-academic paths to prosperity, academics have less of an ethical obligation to critique and correct their institutions, and the institution has less of an exclusive onus to fight against inequality.  If we consider “university students” as a socio-political bloc, that bloc is much more massive, diverse, and complex in the United States than it would be in much of Europe.  

Third – and this too is linked closely to the question of debt rather than separate from it – a major difference between the US and Europe is the long-standing existence in America of extremely wealthy private universities.  In Europe until recently there weren’t many private institutions of higher education. This was changing rapidly even while I was still there, and I’m sure it’s gotten worse.  However, it will take a long time before new institutions acquire the prestige and surplus capital which American private universities already have.  

The brilliant scheme of the American private university is that it took up the model and the rhetoric of the European, post-Enlightenment liberal university, but without sharing or adopting its economic model, which is that of a state-operated and –funded institution. The American private university is a European liberal shell over a fundamentally different economic motor, which is basically a massive private endowment of religious origin.  The biggest American universities weren’t started to train scholars, they were started to train preachers; in this, they had more to do with the medieval canon school than with the post-Enlightenment liberal university. These universities acquired private wealth and land in the manner of traditional Catholic institutions, not in the manner of liberal European universities; now, centuries later, these institutions are basically giant pools of privately-held capital which have an enormous impact on the education, labor, leadership, scholarship, and values of the United States and, indeed, the world, but without any of the regulations that state-funded and –controlled institutions have to endure.  These institutions are first and foremost corporate brands and wealth managers; they only teach students incidentally, as a kind of favor to the rich whose money they manage, but despite this they exert an enormous and unhealthy influence on higher education all over the world.  For decades, the public university system in the US has worked extremely vigorously to imitate the private model, where instead the American public should have demanded the divestment of property from private universities, or at least an end to their tax-exempt status.  

The impact of these institutions can scarcely be overestimated, but they are only the keystone of a vast system that all works together to produce and enforce inequality in the United States.  Because the university is an instrument of hegemony and because capitalist hegemony always depends on inequality, the university under capitalism will always be in some ways an instrument and an enforcer of inequality.  This statement is always true, but for that reason also fairly banal, because it doesn’t engage with any actual, specific material relations.  The difference – as of now – is in the degree to which the entire system interlocks to trap and control the individual.  Simply put, because in Europe there is less systemic inequality, less poverty, and more options for non-academic upward mobility (not many, but more than in the U.S.), the effect of the European university can’t be considered as pernicious and total as the effect of the American university. That doesn’t mean there isn’t much to correct and improve, it just means that capitalism has long tended to workshop its oppressions in the Americas first and then exported them elsewhere.   

European systems, which have traditionally been national or nationalized, tended to have a single centralized application system and held rigidly to unitary standards of admission and education across the national system, even if certain schools had a better “name” or were more popular. But even before I left Germany, there were already efforts to declare certain universities in the national system “centers of excellence” and to pump money into those places.  A major symptom of Americanization is the establishment of a corporate institutional hierarchy, often based equally on actual funding and on institutional PR, between universities in the public system.  This idealistic appeal to merit and excellence justifies budgetary inequalities which in turn serve both to defund “less excellent” disciplines and to center education on the interests of funders and not students.  Here too a “client-centered” corporate approach claims to serve students but is actually a pretense for increasing inequalities between them, and here too the same conclusion follows as above:  the more tiered and hierarchical the national European systems become, the more inequalities will emerge that resemble those of the American system.  

 Another big difference between the US and Europe traditionally has been a much higher European emphasis on the humanities and “human sciences.”  Scientists have always looked down on poets, but until fairly recently in Europe, it was equally the case the poets had the opportunity to publicly and emphatically look down on scientists.  When I first lived in Germany as a teenager, I remember regularly seeing literary critics, poets, screenwriters, and other kinds of art and humanities people on TV, in panel discussions (broadcast on daytime network television!) and in newspapers. This too had begun to change by the time I left Germany, and I’m sure it has gotten worse.  There’s a reciprocal pressure between intellectuals and institutions devaluing the humanities and the general public devaluing the humanities; as humanities programs disappear from the university humanities programming disappears from mass media.  A primary ideological function of the university in modern society is to tell people what’s important and what counts as real knowledge.  There are direct and significant consequences to the logic of quantification and its Four Horsemen, S, T, E, and M.  Global warming would be easier to fight if so many people weren’t convinced life is impossible without tech, for example.  These societal ideological formations don’t begin or end with the university, but they are upheld by it, promoted by it, and routed through it.  Consider for example the ways in which STEM professions are dependent on corporations in a way that many humanities jobs aren’t.  You can be a high school teacher pretty much anywhere if you speak the language; good luck being a freelance molecular biologist and crowdsourcing a lab. There are material and economic and personal consequences to ideological formations, that’s the whole point of enforcing an ideology, whether consciously or not.  Here too it’s a question of degree; we already see the process happening. How far will you let it go?  You often hear administrators tell you that the emphasis on STEM comes from students, who just don’t care about literature the way they used to.  In my experience, this is nonsense.  The proportion of humanities-oriented students and science-oriented students in the average classroom doesn’t change; what changes is the number of students who feel pressured or obligated to try and be science people when they’d rather be studying literature.  That is my experience only, I haven’t done any studies.  

The importance of fighting to keep European higher education free and accessible doesn’t rest on some liberal ideals of education and equality, but on the very real functions that higher education plays in the general economy, and in the relations of labor and production that express that economy.  The European university often serves the interests of industry and private capital, but it is an arm of the state and transmits the values of the state and is susceptible to the pressures of private capital roughly to the same degree that the state itself is.  But in America, the leading universities are expressions and instruments of private capital.  They are inseparable from it, and they serve as instruments with which private capital applies pressure to the state, rather than as an apparatus of the state on which private capital applies pressure. 

At the moment, the differing economic and social relations within which it is embedded make the European university less broken and less harmful than the American university, and with more potential for reparative change.  But even as American global hegemony collapses, economic “Americanization” is on the rise everywhere.  How far it will go, and what traditional institutions are destroyed or altered in the process, remains to be seen.  

[thistangledbrain]

Day 16!

“Work/school”

Well...EDS robbed me of my ability to work 3-4 years ago, but I can tell you about prior stuff.

I started off going to college right out of high school, but realized I was just burning through money, because I had no idea what to major in - I have *too many* interests, and most of them don’t really translate to a well paying job...not enough to warrant the expense of the education, anyway. If higher education wasn’t so expensive in this country, I would be one of those people who just sort of...collects degrees, though. I daydream of that often...but, thanks to my oldest son, I’m sort of vicariously gaining a bit of higher ed in Physics, one of my *favorite things evarrrrrrr* (but I trip so badly over the math, so idk if I’d ever get far, myself). He sends me pics of his notes, video clips, and when he’s home, we love to sit down while he walks me through all the equations and the processes (and when he explains them to me, it helps him get an even deeper grasp of it sometimes, so it’s good for both of us ☺️). Quantum physics/mechanics and theoretical physics are 🤯 to me, and I can’t get enough! Astrophysics is pretty damn cool, too. One of my favorite things ever is when we nerd out together on this stuff. I remember when he was in high school and first started being interested in it...I was so excited I could barely contain myself (I was already very much obsessed with these sciences), and watched with delight and excitement as his passion grew. I remember he brought home this like 10-15 question beginner physics quiz he took when he first started, that he handed to me. “Can you answer these?” he says, as he hands the paper to me. “Fuck YEAH I can!!!” So I excitedly went down the list - there was only one question I wasn’t sure about (and I think it had to do with thermodynamics but I don’t quite remember)...I just remember HE got so excited that I was already familiar with stuff (like particles and waves), and it was in that moment that we just...gained this incredible connection that still makes me feel all gooshy inside. Physics isn’t the only science that gets me excited, but I’ve written enough about that for now 🙃...

So. Yeah. Maybe someday I’ll win the lottery, go back to school, and probably just stay there LOL...

You guys have already heard me ramble about the Marines, so I’ll leave that part out...

So my work history is similar to my school history, I guess. Rather scattershot. Since I know my keenest interests won’t make me a ton of money (without a degree) or aren’t really necessarily *career* choices, I’ve been fairly comfortable with...idk. Trying things out that I wanted to do, because being rich and having “things” just doesn’t...well, I personally don’t understand the draw, and it has never been a real goal. I’m flying high if I can pay the bills on time LOL...I have to leave the rest of the financial planning to someone else, because I just...don’t...care enough. The things I care about in life *require* money (what doesn’t), but obtaining personal wealth just to have more of it/more “things” baffles me (you can do your “grind” to have your “fat stacks” - my interests lie well outside of material gain, and this is something we just won’t connect on. Your Birkin bag and sweet ride mean positively zero to me as far as how I look at you as a person...except for the fact that I think it’s bizarre for someone to spend tens of thousands on a purse or shoes, and I question their logic lmao). I’m not sure I’ll ever know what it feels like to just want to be rich, and damn near kill yourself to obtain that big house and nice cars and designer clothes or whatever. I like nice things too, but frankly I’d rather actually live my life? I’m not gonna be here long...it makes zero sense to me to break myself for the material gain of “things” (and people who do that, actually upset me a bit. I feel like they’re missing the point....or, it makes me sad to think that their existence is so empty that things like labels and status symbols are what they’re hyperfocused on, what matters the most to them). That being said, I DO enjoy the *immaterial* gains - respect, love, making animals and humans happy and whole, growing my mind, sharing my experiences and knowledge for the benefit of others. This probably sounds way too candy coated and cheesy to believe, but it’s easy to prove through my actions. This is *genuinely* what matters to me.

My first couple jobs were not my speed, but I did learn a lot about how companies run (from an administrative & bookkeeping standpoint), and that’s been sort of my “fall back on” career, since - but it makes me really, really unhappy to be stuck behind a desk, even if the work is fairly interesting or challenging. I’ve also been a horse stable manager, an exercise jockey for race horses (shattered pelvis ended that venture though), worked in an exotic pet store (I LOVE reptiles!!!!), and dabbled in nearly every trade in the construction industry (I am the quintessential “Jack of All Trades, Master of None”)...eventually landing in a position that I was very comfortable with - superintendent/jobsite manager for a smaller residential company. The job was always different from day to day, so I had little time to get bored. I guess that’s the big hangup - i don’t like being bored at my job. (I don’t like being bored, period, but rarely am...even though I live out in the middle of nowhere and don’t have gainful employment anymore. I have tons of interests involving animals, art, and building/creating, plus I love to read and learn. Or take walks through the woods and photograph tiny environments. Train and rehab dogs. Remote train and help people as far away as the UK. If I’m bored, I’m probably just being lazy.)

I’ve realized - and come to learn that many auties share this with me - that working alone or with a very small group of people is ideal. We all have our different strengths and interests, but jobs that keep our brains engaged and keeps us out of “general human traffic” are much preferred. I often wonder how many auties are also actually add/adhd, or if it’s just another facet in our prism. 🤷🏻‍♀️ It’s both a bane, and a boon, depending on the situation.

You’re HIGHLY likely to come across *a lot* of Auties in STEM fields...or lurking in warehouses and stockrooms, content to be left alone with their thoughts or music while they sort and pack. There are also a crapload of autistics in the creative arts - writing, music, acting, painting, and so on. You are UNLIKELY to find many auties in mundane tasks that require little thinking, long term.

One of my favorite bits from a Temple Grandin lecture was something about how over half of NASA would be gone without autistics, and back in caveman days, it wasn’t the social gabby gabbies around the campfire who were thinking up new tools and weapons - it was us antisocial weirdos off to one side whose brains *just never shut off*. 🤷🏻‍♀️ This is why I struggle to understand the people who think autism is some sort of ...horrible plight that’s descended on the human species. You’d be screwed without us, and I don’t care if that sounds arrogant, because it’s true. We might be weird and make you uncomfortable sometimes, but we do some DAMN cool shit. We just might prefer to do it in ways that don’t make sense to you. It doesn’t HAVE to make sense to you - WE don’t have to make sense to you (and we probably won’t anyway, so why do you keep trying? Try just accepting instead).

I’ve been slowly collecting links to Autie blogs, artistic works, scientific contributions, and so on. When I’m satisfied that it’s a broad cross section of who we are and what we do/contribute to society, I’ll share it...but in the meantime...

We might be more comfortable within certain parameters (like, “can I please keep the fluorescent lights off in my office”), but shoooo lawd, don’t sell us short on anything else. Just cut us loose and let us do our thang. ☺️

[theaveragekenyan]

Highway to Hell...

“Driving to a Safer Future”

Driving Safety Forum hosted by UK Aid and NTSA – National Transport and Safety Authority Kenya.

28th January 2020

A selection of minutes of the Forum.

Kiproadrage.

OK, thanks very much for your participation and introductions. Now, what I’d like to do is to start the forum off with a small and fun exercise, where I’d like you to call out some words that you think best describe Kenyan Drivers…LONG SILENT PAUSE…So again, I’d like you to call out some words that you think best describe Kenyan Drivers, who wants to go first?

Nmaniac.

Good

Kiproadrage.

Thank you, Good…. WRITES ‘GOOD’ ON FLIP-CHART…another word please…

Bambula.

Really Good.

Kiproadrage.

Errr…Thank you, an expansion of Good… WRITES ‘REALLY GOOD’ ON FLIP-CHART…who’s next?

Achoo

Confident

Kiproadrage.

Yes, thanks…very good…Kenyans are confident drivers…. WRITES ‘CONFIDENT’ ON FLIP-CHART …Keep them coming…

Killyou

Clean Cars

Kiproadrage

Yes, the cars are very clean WRITES ‘CLEAN CARS’ ON FLIP-CHART…what else? particularly with more thought on the skills of drivers…

Jones.

Dangerous…Inconsiderate…Rude…Blind…Corrupt…Idiot…Wanker….Cunt….Stupid Cunt…Absolute Cunt….Knob-head…Fuck-Face….Fuck-Nut…..Retard….Spacker….Shitfer-Brains… Actual Zombie…

SILENT ROOM FOR 1 MINUTE

Kiproadrage

Wow, don’t hold back….

Jones.

Stevie Wonder on Acid…Twatchester United….Bobby Ollock …Brian Ellend…Shatatu….I mean, I could go on…

Kiproadrage.

No…No….No….Thanks very much for coming everyone, it’s been a wonderful day and we’ve learnt a lot.

Achoo

Can we still have Tea?

END OF MINUTES

Driving in Kenya is insane.

When I’m driving on the roads of Kenya, I can safely assume my life expectancy reduces to about 10 minutes. Until one drives here, it is impossible to describe the full experience as it changes every day, and also a new challenge, or scenario, occurs that could only happen here.

Bizarrely, the whole experience is deceptive. The road users drive on the left, where there are signs, they look familiar and in some places, they have traffic lights, but don’t be deceived as the roads just about function, it’s the drivers that are problem.

Let’s start right at the beginning. To learn to drive in Kenya you have to be 18 or over and have enough cash for lessons and a license. Or as is often rumored, to have enough cash to bribe the relevant agencies to produce a license for you.  

With this in mind, it can explain why there is a such a low level of driving skill displayed on the roads of Kenya.

Let me back this up with some facts.

Kenya Road Fatalities 2018

The World Health Organization’s new global survey of road safety reports that 13,463 Kenyans died in crashes on the country’s roads.

United Kingdom Road Fatalities 2018

1,770 reported road deaths

Not bringing any happiness to this comparison, but that’s about 7.5 times more dangerous here.

When I learnt to drive, one of the key principles I first learnt, and this principle is still taught today, is MSM, Mirrors – Signal – Manoeuvre.

In Kenya, I can only assume the same principal has been simplified to Manoeuvre.

Mirrors are a general waste of time and therefore should be removed to increase aerodynamics, reduce excess weight and increase fuel efficiency. This increase in fuel efficiency is the only way I can turn the blatant disregard of safety into a positive.

Most cars you see will have their mirrors not set up correctly. I doubt the average Kenyan understands the notion of “If I can’t see you in your mirrors, then you can’t see me”

Motorbikes mirrors often point up to the sky, which is ironic, as that’s where so many of them end up each day.

Now, the indicator, as always the clues in the title here.

An Indicator alerts other users of your intended travel direction.

Left indicator flashing = I’m moving / turning Left.

Right indicator flashing = I’m moving / turning Right.

Left and Right indicators = Warning, Hazard, I have a problem.

That’s it, no other interpretation of indicators was ever invented by car manufacturers.

To the average Kenyan, indicators have many more meanings than car manufacturers intended. I’ve asked many of my Kenyan friends what these other signals mean? and they say they’re not entirely sure, but seem to think it’s to do with overtaking, something like that.

Left Indicator on = Don’t overtake

Right Indicator = Overtake

Still, confusing.

From my observations, it can also mean, I’m staying in this lane holding my position and driving slowly, or I’ve forgotten to turn my indicator off, which is most often the case. Thinking about this now, this could even formulate some bizarre Kenyan logic of, let me not turn the indicator on so that I don’t forget to turn it off. So many Kenyan’s fail to use their indicators.

My favorite signal here though is the left and right signal together AKA hazard warning. This is used quite a lot by Kenyans whilst driving along the roads.

This interpretation is simple, it’s either; I’m lost, I’m wonky, I’m stupid and avoid at all costs.

When it comes to maneuvering, this is where the average Kenyan excels. The roads are poorly marked here, so every inch of tarmac comes into play.

Moving Forward is the only maneuvering skill the drivers here choose to engage.

So by taking out the mirrors and signal aspect, it does become a challenge.

When driving you have to drive with a cyclist’s mentality, which is to watch every inch of the road and stay about 5 to 10 seconds ahead of every other road users thought process.

It’s not just drivers that are out to trash your car, but pot-holes are a real menace too. Many of the roads are festooned with pot-craters, pot caves, sometimes pot-mines so often travelling at a speed anything above 20kph is tricky.

Roads are often re-laid, but sadly upgraded, with the mentality of keeping the quality down so as to ensure another future contract fixing the upgrade of the upgrade of the upgrade until thy kingdom come happens. This is yet another example of the cycle of corruption here.

It's a fact that the roads here are nothing but money earners, the importance of the roads here are different to other countries priorities. For sane countries, the priority of the road is efficiency and safety, here it’s solely about profit.

So, this is why the most bizarre, unstructured, dangerous and ludicrous transport system is in place.

There is no Public Transport.

The Transport industry is run by a mafia with a Million buses, or Matatu’s as they’re called here.

It’s an informal industry which just happens, and which millions of Kenyan’s put their lives in risk each and every day.

There are no official routes or designated numbers for routes, just a splurge of Matatu’s travelling all at once. They are the number one cause of accidents, delays and deaths on the roads here in Kenya. They are by far worse a threat to Kenya than any terrorist organisation in the world. I’m surprised America hasn’t started a war with them yet.

In Nairobi, all the buses head to the CBD, City Centre or “Town” as it’s called. They originate at a destination outside of the main city area and then hurtle through the main arterial roads into Town. So, to try and work out how to navigate cross-town is difficult for anybody to understand, let alone anybody with a respect of structure. Owing to this state of no structure, you can have as many as 500 buses careering back and forth on any given main road, it’s just too much. They have to meet daily financial quotas for paying the driver, the conductor (they’re called a Tout) and then the owners of the buses will then take their cut as well, let alone any higher involvement in the business model.

Therefore, to meet these daily quotas, the only solution is speed, recklessness and danger.

My only advice, when driving on the roads, is to never get involved with a Matatu. It took me a about 2 years of high-blood pressure, anger and pure wanton vengeance to reach that level of maturity and understanding. To the Driver and Tout of the Matatu their only logic is earn cash and ironically, considering they are driving a coffin, their own personal survival in life.

All logic that someone may possess because they learnt to drive in a country with sane road structure is worthless and a waste of time.

The saddest thing about driving on Kenyan roads is the microcosm and snapshot it creates of society. All roads should be filled with courtesy, manners, consideration and a respect of the rules. However, these road principles, to the average Kenyan, are not even understood throughout society, let alone on the roads.

I used to think that so many Kenyan drivers were rude.

Of course, this is because I drove for 25 years on the roads of the UK. Roads where drivers will be penalised for failing to have insurance, failing to have an MOT (Ministry of Transport vehicle safety and road worthiness license, there are no MOT regulations for Cars in Kenya) failing to stop at a red light, lane hogging etc etc.

Drivers here rarely let you out at junctions, drivers will cut you up, pull out on you, refuse to allow you to overtake, overtake on blind corners, overtake on the wrong wide of the road, drive through red lights, tailgate, but it’s not because they’re rude, it’s just how the average Kenyan is. Their version of rude is very different. I have been in situations where I have rationally and calmly explained, to fellow road users, their moments of rudeness and every time they have been supremely and honestly apologetic once seeing they’ve been accused of rudeness.

Number 1 ‘Rule of the Road’ here, don’t get stressed, just have an abundance of cuss words to throw out the window and just hope that driverless cars and transport gets the hell in here quick!

[phantasyprone]

I thought of you when dan started talking about real life advice and how bad renting is. But also, he said the only people who can afford to buy in London young are doctors when I'm a medical student and I'm going to be paying off student loans forever. There is absolutely no reason anyone as wealthy as them shouldn't be able to buy a home

Hey! Yes, that bit in the liveshow was certainly of so much interest to me after all the housing discussions on my blog! It’s so awesome that you thought of my discourses too, thank you! 

I was out this evening so missed it live but finished watching the stream and this is what i transcribed from the bit where he talked about the renting/buying thing. I didn’t hear the bit about young doctor’s cause the stream was bad at that point, but for those who want to read again what he said he said this;

‘We’re still renting. Renting is bad, if you want some Dan life advice, you know, renting you’re just giving a landlord money. Whereas when you buy a house and you get a mortgage and its terrifying and obviously you need a deposit and enough money once you’ve saved up for it - but then you actually own it. So you shouldn’t rent for too long. So Phil and I can’t get a dog yet, cause its not a dog friendly landlord and all that. Dog would be good, Phil’s obsessed with a corgi…. (Dan you shouldn’t rent for too long) I know! And that’s terrible. It’s terrible! London is (the stream breaks here but i’m assuming he said expensive) and the people who can buy houses in London are 50 year olds who have been saving up.’

And I’ve thought long about what he said there. Personally I completely agree with you that I’m almost certain they could afford to buy a flat. I sometimes do the disastrous thing where I look up house prices in London, and so in Islington a 2 bed flat (a nice one they would like) would be 800 grand upwards. I’m pretty sure that after the tour and the 2 books they could swing that, and I’m still confused as to why they wouldn’t want to get on the property market. Cause if they’re trying to save for a really nice apartment the best way to do that would be to buy a less nice flat, save instead of throw money away renting, then sell it for profit and with that and their savings move into a nicer place. So like, who is giving them advice…

So really, when Dan said before this liveshow that they were still renting I was like ‘wow m8. isn’t that a bit dumb given your financial situation? And then I kind of thought that maybe BECAUSE they have enough money they can continue renting. Once I (lol, let me rephrase) IF I get enough money for a deposit on a London flat i’ll do that asap because fuck renting, but maybe they’re so financially stable that they don’t have to invest in a house right now and deal with the bother of mortgages and the onus of owning a place. Like, they have the financial freedom to quickly sort out their storage and bad old flat situation and just rent for a year or so again, throw a bit of money away renting, and then buy a house in a year or so. 

And if we think about what Dan said again, firstly he mainly talks about the cons of buying a house as having the adult stress of a mortgage, and it’s a scary thing COMMITTING to buying a house, and the responsibility of owning. Theres a lot of paperwork and yourself sorting everything out, whereas the landlord has the responsibility of that if you’re renting. So now I kind of think that after the stressful two years they’ve had, it’s easier for them to continue renting and they can afford to throw that money away despite it being financially better for anyone else in their position to buy a house. So probably for them, renting is just easier and less stressful and they can afford to do it.

And they place so much pride in their home, and seem like the kind of people who would feel as though committing to a house is a huge thing, and perhaps they need time to scope out some places properly, so in the meantime they’re still renting.

I think he stated about London being expensive because 1. It is. And 2. both of them never mention money ever. Even more than most other YouTubers, particularly the ones from the USA, they’re very private about money. Having lived in the USA, it was far more common to discuss finances if the people talking were making a lot of money as opposed to here. So perhaps this is more of a British sensibility. But in general, they don’t try to flash the cash and Dan has discussed a few times about his relationship to money during his childhood and the classist implications of finances in the UK. So he tries to be relatable, as he understands (to some extent) that his audience have varying financial situations (although there could be a huge discussion here about Dan’s relationship to money and how he perceived money and his family’s financial situation and whether his idea of ‘poor’ is the same as anothers but i won’t go into that now). So I think the discussion of London being expensive wasn’t to fully insinuate that HE can’t afford to buy a house, but more that he wanted to acknowledge the ridiculousness of prices on behalf of his audience whilst at the same time blurring our own understanding of his financial situation. By adding that we can’t glean any solid information as to his finances which helps his privacy, as well (from a cynical point of view) keeping him relatable to us dreamers who fantasise about buying a box sized flat for 1 mill one day. 

So basically he says;

- renting is super expensive but we’re doing that

- buying a house is stressful and we’re not doing that

- also buying a house is also expensive but we’ll do that one day

I.E. - I can afford to continue renting and I’ll be able to afford buying a house one day (but not in the far distant future because a dog will happen in like less than a decade probs from how i personally view his perception of their future)

And i’m sorry the stream broke when he was talking about young doctors, thats frustrating for him to say as the fear of loans is real. I’m finishing my Masters degree this year and I had 4 years of undergrad so AHHRRRRRRRRR. M8, i feel your pain, although the loans after a medical degree are worse so I am sorry and my condolences, truly. also, I applaud you so much. My best mate is doing a medical degree and I have the utmost respect and admiration for anyone on such an intense, hard, and life-encompassing degree which will lead to such a worthwhile and astoundingly important profession. You are an actual hero

All my love, good vibes, and best wishes to you. Thank you for your ask and thinking of my rambles during the live show, and apologies for my tl;dr answer! Was great to think about this subject more and I’m glad Dan is giving the mortgage/renting advice that we need and validating my past points, cheers Dan.  (link to liveshow, his discussion of this is at 56:00)

[asfeedin]

The true, cocaine-fueled story behind Back to the Future’s DeLorean

What’s the link between Hollywood, an American businessman, time-travel, and a mountain of cocaine big enough to make even Keith Richards’ knees tremble? Answer: the DMC DeLorean, AKA the DMC-12, AKA the car from Back to the Future.

This weekend marks the 35th anniversary of Back to the Future, so let’s travel back in time and pay homage to the real version of that Mr Fusion-powered 88 mph gull-winged chariot. Strap in, because it’s a wild ride.

[Read: Remembering the Nucleon, Ford’s 1958 nuclear-powered concept car that never was]

But why a time-travelling DeLorean?

Most of the world, certainly outside the US, probably had no idea about the eponymous DeLorean until it featured in Back to the Future, which first hit screens in 1985.

First off, the time machine in Back to the Future was never actually even meant to be a car, let alone a DeLorean. According to director Robert Zemeckis, speaking on the DVD commentary of the films, the time machine was first a laser device, which was scrapped because, uh, dull!

In the second draft it was a refrigerator. But apparently the filmmakers were concerned it would encourage children to climb into fridges and get stuck, so that idea was scrapped too.

Credit: Ewan Roberts

The DeLorean dressed up as it was in Back to the Future Part 3. Arguably the best of the trilogy?

Eventually, the film’s producers decided that you’d want the time machine to be mobile, so they looked to cars. The DeLorean was chosen because of its radical look, and iconic gull-wing doors. Incidentally, its “spaceship” like appearance has been credited as one of the main reasons for it being chosen as well. The DMC-12 was made of brushed stainless steel and was left unpainted, because DeLorean apparently didn’t want to spend money on painting equipment.

In an interview with Esquire, the film’s co-creator Bob Gale said that the film was offered $75,000 to use a Ford Mustang. Gale basically told Ford to get stuffed, and responded with: “Doc Brown doesn’t drive a fucking Mustang!” and so, history was made.

Credit: Wikimedia CC

Original artist designs for the DeLorean time machine were “too good.” Film makers wanted it to look like the Doc had indeed made it in his garage. Many hardcore film fanatics restore and build up Back to the Future DeLorean replicas, just for fun. (This one seems to have something to do with Uber, eurgh.)

The importance of Gale’s remark shouldn’t be understated. The films were littered with other product placements — everyone remembers Nike’s self-lacing shoes and Mattel’s Hoverboard. But by 1985, the DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) had already folded, meaning Gale’s steadfastness on the DeLorean was even more valuable and stopped the car from being lost in the annals of time. Instead, we got one of the most iconic film cars ever.

By the time the films were released, the car had already developed a name for itself, for reasons that had little to do with the vehicle and everything to do with the jet-setting playboy that invented it.

The man, the legend

John DeLorean, the man who would later go on to found the DeLorean Motor Company (DMC), was a stalwart of the automotive world. He was the lead engineer behind iconic muscle cars, like The Pontiac GTO, and the Pontiac Firebird. He worked for many years at General Motors before parting ways with the American automotive giant in 1973.

In 1975 he set up the DeLorean Motor Company with the goal of producing an “ethical” sportscar. One that’s safe, reliable, and built to last. Think of DMC as the Tesla of its day. It wanted to challenge the status quo.

Credit: Wikimedia

John DeLorean was born in 1925. He rose through the ranks of the automotive trade thanks to his risk taking, take no crap attitude. He’d end up being one of the youngest high-ranking executives at GMC by 40 years old.

For design of the DMC-12, DeLorean called on one of the most influential yet unknown car designers, Giorgetto Guigiaro. The Italian designer had a way with the pencil that would see his designs go from paper to the silver screen on more than one occasion. His Lotus Esprit went on to become James Bond’s famous underwater car.

With such pedigree behind the project, you’d think the DMC-12 would find its way into the history books on its own merit. But that wasn’t to be, as the car wasn’t exactly any good and John DeLorean had a habit for going a bit over the top.

The first and only, DeLoreans

The first DMC-12 made its way onto the road in 1981, and around 9,000 units were ever made.

To build the car, DeLorean approached the British government, which threw £100 million of tax payer money at him to build a factory in Northern Ireland. The British government thought they were generating thousands of jobs in an area struck by war, DeLorean thought he was getting a great deal to realize his dream.

DMC-12s had a 2.85 liter V6 motor, putting out 130 hp, mounted behind the drivers powering the rear wheels. Drivers had a choice of 5-speed manual or 3-speed automatic transmissions which were pretty typical for the early 80s.

Credit: Wikimedia CC

The DMC-12 was ran on a 2.85 liter V6 made my Peugeot, Renault, Volvo. Nothing screams pedigree like those three names, right?

There was just one body style, featuring those iconic gull-wing doors, and no choice of paint. Every car was finished with brushed stainless steel, which some owners maintain using WD-40, not soap and water like every other car.

All of this came together to produce a car that wasn’t practical, particularly fast, and didn’t handle like a sportscar should. And because of mechanical flaws that needed to be worked out, production was delayed, and the car ended up costing far more than was initially forecast.

It was called the DMC-12 as it was originally going to be sold for $12,000, but various overruns and production challenges pushed its price tag closer to $25,000.

Credit: Wikimedia CC

Perhaps the most iconic part of the DMC-12 are its gull-wing doors. Any guesses where Elon Musk got the idea for his “Falcon” doors from?

Even though no accurate records exist of how many DeLoreans were ever sold, reports suggest the car had no problem initially capturing the hearts and minds of the American motoring public. But it couldn’t turn the initial interest into consistent sales.

A year later in early 1982, nearly a decade after DeLorean left GMC to set up his eponymous company, some 7,000 vehicles remained unsold.

Add this to economic recession and DeLorean‘s company was on the ropes.

A slippery slope

The British PM at the time, Margaret Thatcher, ordered DeLorean to raise more money to keep the company in business and support his employees. DeLorean, enraged, claimed that the British Government was closing his Northern Ireland plants on the grounds that its Catholic employees were “tithing the Irish Republican Army.”

But the reality was that DeLorean needed some $17 million to save his company from bankruptcy — that’s $46.5 million accounting for inflation.

Over the course of 1982, DMC’s financial situation worsened, and DeLorean was left with few options.

In October 1982 he found himself in a Los Angeles hotel room with a man he half-trusted in the hope he could save his company. The man, James Hoffman, a previously convicted drug smuggler, alleged that DeLorean had come to him looking to carry out a cocaine deal to generate funds to support his failing business.

During the meeting a briefcase supposedly filled with 27 kg (about $6.5 million worth) of cocaine was laid out on a table. Discussions had also alluded to a bigger deal, in which DeLorean would part finance the sale of $24 million worth of the drug. He agreed and was even recorded on video as saying the white stuff is “better than gold.”

Credit: Jason Leung

Despite not being the best car, even at its time, the DMC-12 has a dedicated following. Many enthusiasts restore and care for their beloved vehicles. According to classic car forum Honest John and the DeLorean owners club, in July 2019 there were about 150 in the UK. Not all were registered, though.

DeLorean was promptly arrested at the hotel on grounds of narcotics law violations.

However, James Hoffman was working with the FBI as an informant. According to reports, DeLorean never actually wanted to go along with the cocaine trafficking. In fact, it was Hoffman who approached and coerced DeLorean into the bogus deal, in an attempt to provide information to the FBI and have his own sentence reduced.

DeLorean was able to prove that he had been “play-acting” all along. He went along with Hoffman after threats were made against his family.

By August 16, 1984, DeLorean was acquitted on grounds of government entrapment.

DMC will never be forgotten

Sadly, a week after DeLorean’s arrest, his company filed for bankruptcy and by December 1982, just two years after the first cars were sold, DMC was no more and the British government shutdown his NI factory.

It wasn’t just DeLorean’s drug smuggling antics that landed him in hot water, he also had a track record of misappropriating company funds. DeLorean went on to spend many years unpicking legal cases related to the downfall of his beloved car business. In 1999, he declared bankruptcy. The story of his life has been made into a film of its own, called Framing John DeLorean.

Back to the Future press poster, look for the subtle presence of the DeLorean, the film’s true leading star.

DeLorean never gave up on his dreams and in his final years he attempted to resurrect DMC by designing and selling watches, eyeglasses, and sunglasses. He hoped he would eventually be able to drum up enough support and funding to relaunch his car company. In March 2005, John DeLorean died of complications from a stroke.

The DMC-12 might not have been DeLorean’s greatest car, and it may have met its premature end because of his Machiavellian antics. But it was those antics and self-belief that gave birth to the idea in the first place, and eventually led Back to the Future’s filmmakers to pick it as their time machine.

Back to the Future may have helped make the DMC-12 one of the most iconic cars ever, but it — and its creator — should be remembered for so much more than that.

Sources: Reuters, Washington Post, New York Times 1, New York Times 2, Volo Auto Museum, Drive Tribe, Esquire, Back to the Future DVD commentary

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[ramblehound]

You haven’t been to Spain, yet?

I’ve been in Spain three times now. The first time, I lived here and stayed a month and a half in Granada. It was an international situation. No need to go into details. The first time I got stuck in Granada (possibly the best place in the world to be stuck). Since then I’ve been around a bit, Gibraltar (even though technically it’s The UK), all over Andalusía and Costa Del Sol, Madrid, and Barcelona - to name the main points.

I’m not some Park Avenue dandy like Washington Irving, but when I read his expose “The Alhambra”, it resonated with me in a deep and beautiful way after everything I have seen here in Spain. Everything he wrote in that piece was spot, accurate and without embellishment, as much as I’ve been able to experience almost 200 years later after that work being published. Spain is an enrapturing and dramatic landscape that will dazzle your eyes, with a history that makes Lord of the Rings seem almost blahh. By the way, in case you didn’t know... Spain has an incredibly diverse landscape and has been consistently rated as one of the best culinary experiences in the world. Furthermore, they’re also the hot spot for handing out Michelin stars to restaurants the last 10 years. It’s kinda the place to be as a chef, or to start a restaurant. So, if you stop reading here, the synopsis is, *go to España*.

I’ve been to Italy, it’s one of my favourite countries / collection of city states; 1000’s of years of heritage and history. Yea. Cool. I feel fortunate that “I get it”, and I do, but Spain....Spain is the same, but a different animal in so many ways. It’s the same as comparing Rome with Paris, or Rome with Barcelona. For me I’ve just learned to just except the difference, agree there is this incandescent force around them, that makes you feel alive, and are enjoying being reborn, and move on. In the words of the great Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, “buy the ticket, take the ride.”

Progress is everywhere here. They got hit pretty hard by the financial fiasco in 2008, the market tanked just like everywhere else in the world; but like anything truly Hispanic, when it’s up against the ropes, it fights its way out. The Spanish like a fight. Both times I’ve been in Spain, there are new buildings going up everywhere or revamping what’s already established. If you’re a big shopper, they’ve got it all and then some - weird / cool local second hand shops, and then of course your established brands, then climbing up into luxury / high fashion. Shopping isn’t my thing exactly so let’s just take hit the onramp and get back on the highway of this article and keep tracking.

In Spain, I can’t tell you how many high end autos / bikes I’ve seen. As a motorhead, I specifically have seen a few head turners. Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Triumph, Moto Guzzi. The roads here in general are a drivers wet dream. Sweeping curves, long straights and in general, well paved. Now to one of my more favourite aspects, economics. Business in general here in Spain is on a huge upswing. Property values are rising steadily. Barcelona is tied with Berlin for the #2 spot for startups in the EU. Barcelona and Madrid also, consistently find their way into Monocle Magazine’s annual quality of life survey. Portugal, is also no stranger to tough times, the country was close to bankrupt, but now, now the Iberian as a whole is blowing up! All of these things are clear indicators of a shift of not just economics, but a mentality.

Spain is, and has always been a jewel in the world, and there’s always a mix of cultures here. It’s an inherent quality in it’s nature, unquestionably. Geographically it’s impossible for it not to be. I realised that imminently looking across to Morocco and Cetau, from Gibraltar. My friend asked me, “Isn’t it amazing that many people from there are so close and want so badly to be living here, and this is all that really divides us?” Am I bringing this up to be political? Yes. But, I’m not digging deeper into it, aside from saying, if you’re willing to do things legally, work hard and make a real contribution, then you should be welcome anywhere. If you’re not willing to do those things, get the fuck out, or keep your ass parked where it is. Secondly and more to the point though, I’m bringing it up to illustrate it’s ideal geographical placement as a crossroads of cultures while being lavishly shrouded in its own. If you travel more than a little, you know just how singular that dimension is and how rare it is to find.

Geographically you have a peninsula (Iberian) that is a main factor in every aspect of what Europe is in every facet. On top of that you have a culture that was a part of, and lived through however many different shifts. The Phonecians, The Romans, The Moors, The Castilians, The Catalonians, The French and Franco. What that equates to is the truth of their culture, and that it’s as malleable as quicksilver and titanium strong; while maintaining something decidedly luminescent. They’re as fun loving as they are relaxed. When business is on the table, they make moves. They get the balance of work / play on a level most never will. I find it so comical, in the worst of ways, that Hispanics are thought of as lazy. They’re some of the toughest sons of bitches I’ve worked with. They never miss a siesta, BUT they’re never without a bone to break.

Marbella seems like the quiet Monaco of the Mediterranean, while Cagliari, the secret. All too many designer shops, but many more, and more important, the backbones of a local economy. You can hear 5 languages a day, 7 maybe, easy. Today I talked with a local street vendor in Pidgin mixed with Spanish, we seemed to sort things out well enough. His English was well enough, but why deprive myself the opportunity? It was worth the shock slapped across his face from hearing a white boy speak Pidgin.

The local economy of restaurants here is thriving with all local products that make you wonder why you put so much faith in Rome, Paris and others for your culinary standards. The access to fresh seafood is absurd. Even the local market has fresh catches of seafood exclusive to the region for pretty damn cheap. I’ve bought local fish here to barbecue at a market price that couldn’t rival local markets anywhere else in Europe. Let alone a local supermarkets price. Vegetables, local everything for a € or 2€ per kg., maybe slightly more from time to time. This is an appropriate time to laugh at the “5 star or nothing” crowd who are missing out on the 2 or 3 star gems that are ridden by locals who don’t give two shits about writing a review. They know where to get their fix.

I’m a hole in the wall cafe / bar kind of guy. The local joints. I’m more into places that are devoid of the frills, and the types of marketing that lead to impulse buying the weird condoms in the checkout line. I’m not the kind of guy to get bent out of shape about being noticed at the “right places”. I much prefer the awkward feeling of being the new kid on the block when I walk into a local place. That’s the “right place”.

I recently got off the phone with a friend of mine in Firenze (Florence). He’s one of those guys that you’d shake your fist at, and say, “lucky bastard”, when you hear his job. Basically put, he’s a professional rockstar. He lives on the road, he rarely hangs his hat for too long in one place. But he recently got back to Firenze for the 2,977th time, or something like that, and planned to run into some American friends of his who have never travelled outside the country. That’s right. They exist, it isn’t just a myth, somehow. Instead of taking it all in, they were buried in their phones on travel apps. Making sure wherever they stopped was at least 4 stars or 5. As soon as my friend told me this, I said, “Fuck that! Just open your eyes and channel your inner wolf, and put your nose to work!” Don’t be this person! This is a core principle of the difference between a tourist and a traveler.

I’m posted up at a local joint now that I found the same way. I used my basic senses. I didn’t fucking use an app! People forget so often that the apps / websites are there to assist you, not guide you! Where’s your sense of adventure?! I walked by the other day and scoped the digs. Locals? Check. Basic table and settings? Check. The clear smell of something amazing going on in the kitchen? Ample wine supply? Check. That’s it, I’m parking it here. Another dead give away, that places like this have are the jamón legs hanging from butcher hooks behind the bar. They don’t need the 5 star reviews, although they would be nice, they don’t need the expensive marketing campaign and a squeaky clean, amazingly designed website. In fact I’d be surprised if some places like this had one. Things like that are the epitome of an afterthought to places like this. They’re betting on getting your ass in a chair at a table with you walking by and having a butchers. Like waving a red cape in front of the bull. And before you know it, you’re hooked.

Even as I write this now, sitting here with an amazing glass of Rioja, I’m watching a tourist tapas bar across the street getting the grease down. Even from 20 meters I can hear the Brits, Russians, French and Germans, even if I couldn’t hear them I can see them as plain as the nose on their face. Nope, I prefer the sanctuary of this local bastion, the simple, but effective approach of marketing involving nothing more than displaying the legs of jamón and the myriad of bottles of the fruits of Andalucía. There’s no buy 2 get one free deal running here. There’s no guy waiting to hand me a towel to dry my hands in the bathroom like in Ferris Bueller. Christ, even if there was I’d like to see how the hell he could fit. It’s more like a bath*closet*. This is as about as far as you can get from the Embassy Suites or the Four Seasons as possible, and I fucking love it.

I’ve been more of a wino the last 5+ years, and if you enjoy “sunlight trapped in water” (thanks Leo) like myself, then you will find even more of a paradise than you could have possibly predicted. One thing I can say for as much as I’ve experienced is that some of the best wine in the world comes from Spain. Spain holds a dead tie with Italy, with (in my opinion) France just beneath at number 2. You can buy a bottle at a local market here for 3€ - 5€ and be blown away. Start with the 3€-5€ options before you graduate to the 10€+ crowd. Pace yourself, slow yourself down and enjoy the ride. Totally worth it.

Practically everything in the Spanish culinary culture is built to be paired with wine, or alcohol in general. The beer scene isn’t lagging at all in Spain, they’ve got the hipster craft beer thing going, but in a less utterly excessive way (like some places on the globe) but each region usually has its own brewery that’s been adding to the siesta experience for decades or longer. C’mon... who the hell doesn’t enjoy an ice cold beer, in the shade on a hot day?! If we’re talking Spanish beer though, the front runner is absolutely Alhambra Cerveza. Like the New York saying goes, about the pizza there and why it’s some of the best in the world, “there’s just somethin’ in tha water”, concerning the dough, the same holds true for Alhambra, the mountain spring water used for the beer makes it incredibly top notch, Tasting is believing, look for the Alhambra Reserva Roja (Red) or Verde (Green).

Each city or region usually has a local after dinner spirit that ranges from 20% - 45% alcohol. Similar to why the Italians have limoncello. And similar to how people (like myself) actually read Playboy for the articles, this after dinner drink isn’t just about nailing a shot, it’s mean to be sipped and actually helps with digestion.

We talked about the alcohol and the food scene, sure, but let’s talk about something else more healthy and sometimes more fun than a glass of wine, green. Cannabis, in case you’ve been living under a rock, or are just someone who’s wound to tight; has been gaining more and more global acceptance. Why? Because governments are actually using science and logic. They’re also realising they can cut off a piece for themselves in an open and regulated market. The best potweedmarijuana in Europe, is not, contrary to popular belief, Netherlands. 40% - 50% of any ganja lit up in the EU comes from Spain. It’s a fact. I have had some amazing strains in Netherlands, but España edges out just past the Dutch. If you wanna smoke in a 100% legal scenario while you’re here, research the Private Clubs. But the same as with alcohol, don’t be a jacksss. Be respectful of others and have your head on straight.

I’ll stay here for 2 more orders of tapas and then walk around to catch some more shots of the city on a Saturday night, but I’m pretty damn content posted up here. There’s a La Liga game live, on the TV over the bar, an ample of supply of everything amazing a person could want in Andalucía (or anywhere) - nothing left, but to enjoy the minutes spinning off the clock. The owners gotten pretty chummy with me. He’s the 3rd generation extension of the establishment. He sees me look over across the street at the touristafied tapas bar and asks me why I chose his place. I tell him, “¿por que no?” He points to a tapas joint two doors down, another one on the boardwalk a block away on the corner and the finally the one across the street and then shrugs as if to say, “I know my turf, caballero.” I tell him in Spanish, simply, “Your place is real Andalucía. It’s real España. You can see the difference, and taste it.”

You might be thinking, “yeaa... but what kind of crowd? Is it a bunch of pensioners? Families? What about the younger crowd? I haven’t got Spain 100% figured out, but one thing I have sorted is that the legit, local spots, got a full mix. Spain gets the community / family thing a little better than most countries. Whether you’re hitting up a tapas bar, going to a local shop, stopping to catch a flamenco street guitarist (support your local street performers!) or strolling around, people are coming together, loving life and sharing it. When you come to Spain, and when you’re doing life here, time slows down in only the most desirable ways.

Which brings me to the one negative that I can mention with absolute certainty; coming to Spain as someone in a relationship with out your significant other is going to not give you the 100% experience. I’m not gonna get all puppy dog, but when you’re in an environment that so clearly embraces life and getting the most out of it, you feel your other half missing. This country and this region make you as romantic as you will feel in New York, Rome or Paris. I’ve never taken the time to rate the most romantic places in the world, but Spain has to be in the top 10. If you’re single and ready to mingle, Spain is definitely going to be happy hunting. I don’t miss being single myself, but sexuality is, and always has been a strong part of Spanish culture. It’s clearly visible here. Macho y Feminina. Spain is a Mecca of passion.

Synopsis: if you haven’t checked your schedule for the next month yet, or gotten on to the internet to start scoping prices for airfare and accommodations, do it ASAP. If you’re thinking about the job market or starting a new company, Spain. Thinking about buying a new property? Spain. An extended leave of absence? Thinking of going Expat? Holiday? Weekend getaway? Spain. It’s as cost effective as it is luxurious, and it’s as enchanting as it is beautiful.

Buy the ticket, take the ride and get lost.

————

Important notes:

- Bring your preferred method of credit, but always have a good supply of €. A lot of places here hang a middle finger attitude to the tax / banking system. The fees involved with running electronic payment systems have yet to reach an apex in popularity.

- Some places around the globe, you can live WiFi to WiFi, not Spain. If I could call the odds, I’d say you got a 50/50 when you go out, of catching a signal at a cafe, restaurant or shop. Trust me when I say though, sometimes it’s real nice being off the grid.

- Not all tapas are free. The usual case / scenario is, you buy a drink, they bring you a plate. Tapas is Spain’s way of fighting alcoholism and being hospitable. Food + alcohol = less drunk ass holes staggering around their streets. A real tapas place will be free or really cheap and they will have multiple options made with fresh, local ingredients. Steer clear of the jokers advertising 15€+ for a drink and picking 6 tapas if you can. This 15€+ jazz is the normal style of tapas in Madrid more so, and also often in Barcelona; not in the rest of Spain though.

- Gazpacho is the perfect thing to eat for lunch in Spain. All fresh vegetables, served cold, and engineered to keep you pushing in the hot summer heat. The best time for Gazpacho is May - July as the best vegetables of the year are grown then.

- Learn some Spanish before you go. Don’t show the fuck up in someone else’s country and expect them to speak your language 100%. Don’t be a tourist, be a traveller. Even if you don’t nail the pronunciation, this small little piece of advice is applicable everywhere, globally. The little effort you put in will show the locals you care, and aren’t self absorbed, ignorant, nationalist.

¡Hola! - Hello!

Adios - Goodbye!

Yo quiero - I want

Buenas - Hello! / Goodbye! (Spanish equivalent of Ciao in Italian)

¿Donde esta el baño? - Where is the bathroom?

- Leave room in your bags for all the olive oil, jamón and wine you will be bringing back.

- The drivers are a bit crazy. 50% or more know what they are doing. The other side of the spectrum knows better, but just don’t give a shit.

- Marijuana is legal in certain cities and has been decriminalised in general throughout the country. Like many other parts of the world, governments are embracing the truth about cannabis. The best marijuana in Europe, and definitely some of the best in the world, is in Spain - hash, green or moonrocks.

- Siesta isn’t just something from a Speedy Gonzalez cartoon, it’s for real. 75% of everything closes (roughly) between 15:00 - 17:00. Why? Because it’s the hottest part of the day and people are staying out of the sun and also because they’re preparing for the dinner rush, and taking a break.

- Try not to call someone Spanish. Are they from Spain? Yes, but try to detail it to the province they are from if you can. ie: Cataluñya, Andalucía, Castile. Something small, but they will value it a lot. Don’t be a tourist, be a traveler, someone cultivated trying to absorb the culture, not just take from it.

- Everyone advertises for live Flamenco shows. Research which ones are best. 75% of them are a sham compared to the real thing. The best ones are in Granada, Ronda or Seville.

- You can live off just tapas. 100% life hack certified. If you’re really on a budget or if you just want a lot of variety, find the real and local tapas bars. For 5€-7€ you can have a full, and very often, healthy meal.

-Put The Alhambra / Granada at the top of your list of places to visit, the other top choice is absolutely Barcelona. Don’t make the mistake of trying to cram each city into 3 or 5 days. Take 7 and really soak it in and explore.

[newagesispage]

                                                          DECEMBER        2017

*****The Astros win the World series.

*****Jill Kimmel is doing stand up.** Her brother Jimmy’s childhood drawings were turned into flesh super heroes The terrific Ten.** Jimmy is in a twitter war with Roy Moore. After being called out by Moore, Jimmy is heading to Alabama to either fight or talk since he is unsure of what Moore is taunting him to do. He wants to dress like a girl scout since he feels that Moore only notices little girls. Kimmel would really like to talk Christianity because as a Christian he does not understand him.

*****So.. Scary clown has delayed his decision on elephant trophy’s which has angered hunting groups.** It is said that Rex Tillerson is about to be out and Mike Pompeo in. Business as usual!

**** The tax bill is atrocious. It adds a trillion to the deficit and the middle class tax cuts would expire.  They are trying to sneak in a caveat in the part about college savings plan. It would not actually change anything for savings now but it a backdoor way to have their way on abortion. It would introduce ‘fetal personhood’ into law which of course would be a short leap to taking away choice.

*****Scary clown 45 is ranting about the jury in the case of Kate Steinley who the jury says was accidently shot by an immigrant named Jose Inez Garcia Zarate.  Trump has been ranting about this case for a while now but the San Francisco trial just ended.** And we are really seeing what Trump and his fake news are doing to the world. His yelling about CNN put doubt into other countries about a REAL story they did on modern day slave auctions in Libya. These are real humans that need help and he has others doubting the very story. ** He also put out fake stories about terrorism which were debunked but Huckabee Sanders said it does not matter if the stories are real, the threat is real. The fake news also gave much free publicity to hate group Britain First.

*****The original Conklin’s barn was torn down on November 7. Fingers crossed that the donations will keep coming in so they can reopen by December 2018 as Barn 3. Time for some Days cast members to donate some fundraising time??

*****Patton Oswalt kicked ass in his new Netflix special Annihilation and also just got married to Meredith Salenger.

*****Boo Boo Stewart and Mark Derwin star in Lowlifes out in 2018. Lowlifes is the story of a second chance boot camp who stumble onto a terrorist group.

*****Meghan McCain seems so angry and it seems she wants to tear Joy Behar’s head off sometimes. She is supportive of some liberal agendas but automatically turns off some ideas simply because of who is proposing them. This is the very thing she rails against. I did love her take on sleezy Matt Lauer though, I too never had any respect for him after the Anne Curry thing. And c’mon ET all the Lauer clips you showed seemed to have him in front of Rolling Stones advertising.** Lauer has been accused of many things including exposing himself. Why do these men always think we want to see their dicks? They all think they have something special, they are not that fucking different. Keep it in your pants, most would be embarrassed if they were held up to other men. And I don not believe for a minute that Jeff Zucker did not know about it. I never trusted him either.

*****China says that Trump is proof that democracy does not work. They are benefitting from our misery and zeroing in on being number 1. Besides spreading propaganda, they are making lots of jobs with clean energy that they can sell to the world.

*****Steve Green of Hobby Lobby has finally opened the 500 million dollar Bible museum. The idea of making all guests sign a promise to become evangelicals when they leave was nixed.

*****$15 mil in taxpayer money has been spent on the sexual harassment complaints of congress.

*****James Jagger and Matilda Lutz are the face of Giorgio Armani’s fragrances Because it’s you for her and Stronger with you for him.

*****Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross declared the divestment of his holdings but he’s still part owner in a company. This Russian company has ties to Putin’s son in law.

*****Please Please Conan.. More Butterscotch the clown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*****The UK is having its own political and sexual misconduct scandals including a secretary of state Damian Green.

*****The Mark Twain prize for Letterman was filled with my favorites and was very emotional. Al Franken edited out? Maher is right: The liberals are pussies.

*****The Paradise papers about offshore finances were leaked.  The secret financial activities of the superrich show a lot of Russian dealings. There are also questions about Queen Elizabeth’s private estate and other business leaders.

*****The list of those accused of sexual misconduct grows, from Dustin Hoffman to Brett Ratner to Russell Simmons and more to come. Simmons is accused of raping Lena Horne’s granddaughter. We need a special kind of thank you for Ronan Farrow who is working tirelessly to blow the lid off of the Weinstein bullshit. I Can’t wait for his new book. He has exposed many things which have helped feel safe enough to come forward. So many helped in the Weinstein mess , including Dylan Howard, chief content officer of American Media Inc. which publishes The Enquirer. Howard was apparently a helper in the disgusting network of suppression. Sime sticks together like Levin sticks with Trump.** We need a real truth teller, an honest Cronkite type and I see it in Ronan. **Jane Seymour had her own story of sexual harassment with a powerful producer at the start of her career.** Charlie Rose is fired after his allegations. That one hurts.** I am so glad the women are coming forward. The bravery of citizens like in The Keepers is opening up a world of (hopefully) more truth, more justice. ** Are political operatives helping to dig any of this up?** A good portion of people I know are natural flirts. Are there some who don’t even realize that they are offending? Out and out rape and authority figures who try to stop an employee’s rise when they do not get their sexual way is obviously wrong.  We are human though and sometimes that line may be crossed unintentionally. I think each story has to be looked at for what it is. We must discern between real and cruel sexual situations and tasteless jokes and bad manners. All is wrong but there are different ways to deal with the accused. Listen fully to the stories from the victim’s mouth. Follow the evidence and force yes or no answers. This political speak of “let me tell you” or “I will say this” is nonsense. People out and out believe that celebs of journalists did the bad deed but politicians receive more skepticism. People take the side of their left or right hero without really listening. If you can’t see the difference I wonder about your ability to reason, about your moral compass. An Al Franken or Garrison Keillor seem to be a bit different from a Weinstein. ** Uma Thurman had a great tweet: Happy Thanksgiving everyone (except you Harvey, and all your wicked conspirators. I’m glad it’s going slowly-you don’t deserve a bullet)** Pelosi could be a little more eloquent and quit getting in her own way defending the left. Just before I put this page out, Pelosi says Conyers should resign.. WOW! complete turn around.** A woman came forward to the Washington Post trying to push some fake news about Roy Moore. She claimed that she was impregnated by him and then it was found that she was meeting with Project Veritas whose purpose it is to set up stings on the mainstream media. Of course there are REAL reporters at the Post so the story was not published.  Hmm imagine looking up facts and not getting your news from the 700 Club or online scuttlebutt. ** Isn’t all the money and power enough for these men at the top? Law and order SVU must have enough script ideas for another 20 years.** Is all the women standing up and not taking it anymore what we get for losing Hillary? It is like she had to sacrifice herself and gain liberation for the rest of us. So many can’t believe what got into the White house and real truths need to be out there. WAKE

*****Prince Harry and former Deal or no Deal employee, Meghan Markle are engaged .

*****The governor’s award honored Donald Sutherland

***** Fashion Police on E is over.

*****I watched Ozark on Netflix and wasn’t too sure after the first episode but tried the second and then I was in. There were times when I could not quite suspend my disbelief but then there were so many characters that I seemed to recognize from my real life. Bateman and many deserve some love for this project and I will miss Russ in season 2.

*****Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr story sounds like a great doc.

*****The Grammy noms are out and leading the way was Jay-Z with 8. That was followed up with Kendrick Lamar, Bruno Mars, SZA, Childish Gambino and Khalid. Also on the list of nominations are Lorde, Lady Gaga, Imagine Dragons, Bob Dylan, Kraftwerk, Leonard Cohen, Jason Isbell, Gregg Allman, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Bruce Springsteen, Bernie Sanders, Carrie Fisher, Dave Chappelle, Queens of the stone age, Jim Gaffigan, Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman, Kevin Hart and The Rolling Stones.

*****So glad Search Party on TBS is back!!

*****The Crowns Plaza hotel has a projection on the outside of the building that declares FUCK TRUMP.

*****Don’t take your eyes off this administration and the judges he is putting in place, the rules that he and his cohorts are changing and the rights he is taking away from all of us. We have a lot to deal with now but don’t let his tweets or his slick talkers distract you. Yes we need justice from the Russian probe but somebody is handling that,. I wish the news would let that play out and update us more on what they are taking from us.** If you can’t see what is wtong with a Trump or a Roy Moore, I have to wonder about your moral character.

*****Hooray for Washington Week for 50 years and Meet the Press for 70. Thanks Washington Week for your touching tribute to Gwen Ifill.

*****Dan Rather has a new book, What unites us.

*****Nathan Fillion is back on ABC with The Rookie. The program is inspired by a true story of the oldest rookie in the LAPD from the executive producer of Criminal Minds, Mark Gordon.

*****For the fifth year in a row Michael Jackson has been the top dead celebrity earner.

*****Laurence Fishburne is divorcing Gina Torres.

*****Papa John’s has apologized for blaming the knee taking football players for low pizza sales. C’mon who eats that pizza anyway?.. get a good product!** The alt right has named them their official pizza.

*****Voting has begun for the rock and roll hall of fame. This year we have Bon Jovi, the Moody Blues, Dire Straits, The Cars. Judas Priest, The Eurythmics, The Zombies, J. Geils Band( please finally!!!!!), Depeche Mode and Nina Simone.

*****U.S. court judge Colleen Kollar- Kotelly barred Trump from continuing with plans to exclude transgender people from military service and thinks those who have sued have a good case.

*****So.. What the fuck is the hinky biz going on at Guantanamo?  The place has its own rules and nobody can seem to agree on said rules. Brigadier General Baker found good cause for Nashiri, a suspect in the USS Cole bombing, to lose his lawyers. After the lawyers were allowed to quit, a judge ordered Baker to rescind that order but he refused.  The judge put the General in jail. The General , a U.S. citizen and  the 2nd highest ranking officer in the military claims the judge has no jurisdiction over him. We will have to see how this plays out.

*****James Comey is releasing his story in May with the book A Higher Loyalty.

*****Michael Lewis tells us about all the prep the Obama administration went thru to bring the Trump administration up to snuff in his new nook The Undoing project.

*****Brit Vandegraft married John Witt on October 14 and honeymooned thru Dallas and on to the West.

*****According to the pentagon, America has spent $250 mil a day on war every single day for sixteen years.

*****Donna Brazile’s book Hacks claims the Dem campaigns were offered a chance to bail out the DNC and get much support. The Bernie campaign declined but the Hillary campaign supplied the money. Brazile seemed a bit surprised and rattled about the reaction to her book in the beginning.  After a couple of weeks she settled into it and the defensiveness sort of faded.  She tells us that she has been in politics for fifty years and if we don’t like it ,we don’t have to buy it. She claims she enjoyed Hillary’s book and backed her all the way.  Brazile writes that she got to the bottom of everything when she took over the DNC and was threatened over and over again.

*****Days alert: WTF Adrienne?? Poor Lucas never gets to keep the girl! **Peggy McCay celebrated her 90th.** Keep Hope and Raif together. Damn!

*****So glad to see Katherine Erbe on How to get away with murder.

*****Spot on writing and acting on another level with Jane and Lily and Sam and Martin on Grace and Frankie. What treasures!!  Thrilled to see the appearance of Mary kay Place . Craig Welzbacher who played Myron on Days was on there too.

*****Dinklage, Harrelson and McDormand in Three Billboards… can’t wait.

*****This winter, Trump requested 70 foreign workers with special permission from the U.S. labor department for Mar –A- Lago. He also would like some for various golf clubs thru the H-2B visa program. There are currently 5,136 qualified persons in the area ready to work. America first?

*****The second part of Stranger Things just as good as the first.

*****Scary Clown 45 is being sued because he blocked twitter followers.  He now knows that since he uses his tweets as an ‘instrument of governance’ blocking is not allowed.

*****Fifty years brings Rolling Stone magazine an HBO doc, a rock and roll hall of fame exhibit and the whole thing up for sale.

*****Rand Paul was attacked by his neighbor as he mowed his lawn.

*****Ok.. I realize that shows like The View have to shift.. well I guess they do.. But I don’t get how they can talk about a shooting and then hey ”view your deal’.  C’mon, it just seems so inappropriate to suddenly talk about spending $ on silly things. I always tune out when this shit happens.. can’t this shit be at the end of the show. No offense to those companies but I do not watch for that. .. But good for Sonny Hostin for going to Puerto Rico to tell their story.

*****Sad to see Dale Earnhardt Jr run his last race. Is Chase Elliott the next Mr. popular ?

*****An American woman, Shalane Flanagan won the New York marathon.

*****Manafort had 3 passports and we won’t get to the trial for he and Gates until May.

*****Charles Manson is dead. Writer Phil Luciano still has some letters from him that he does not know what to do with. They are now headed into the Lincoln library in Springfield, Il.** How did Charlie wrangle such good publicity from American Horror story? The timing as usual is impeccable. Charles (Manson) in charge?** The History channel seems to have some unheard recordings from Charlie that will air on December 3 as Manson Speaks.

*****Prince Salmon Mohamed is purging in Saudi Arabia. His crackdown has included about 500 other Princes who have been rounded up. He is consolidating power and getting rid of enemies. Just days before Jared Kushner went for a visit.  It seems like so many ego driven men in the world today are grabbing all the power they can.

*****Check out Jeff Ross roasts the border.

*****The recent elections went pretty well for the left including Bill DeBlasio. Congrats to all the newly elected including the first openly trans woman and an African American mayor in Montana. Nobody should get too cocky.

*****The VA says they won’t help the dishonorably discharged per the Trump team.  Hmm no help from VA, no universal health care.. I guess soldiers should suffer in silence, beat their families or become addicts.

*****Wow Darrell Hammond was awesome on a Criminal Minds that Aisha Tyler directed.** BTW Did ya see the episode where Mantagna utters the line, “I don’t like a the snakes.’? OMG

*****HBO is making a limited series about the Jonestown tragedy with Vince Gilligan and Octavia Spencer.

***** Watch for Peter Fonda in The Ballad of Lefty Brown coming out December 15.

***** So.. Tiny kitchens are a thing?

***** Pumpkin spice has reached its peak. Pumpkin out: Maple in.

*****Check out Sean Astin as Paul Manafort in Houseguest (on Colbert).

*****I thought my head was gonna explode when Bill Maher had Michael Moore, Donna Brazile, Chris Matthews and Sarah Silverman on the same episode.

*****So the People mag sexiest man is stupid anyway but Idris isn’t the man this year? WTF??

*****Jim and Andy: The story inside the story inside the story of Carrey playing Kaufman. This is a great piece of work.  Is it wrong to say how hot it is that Jim gets this look in his eye about Andy? Even though he is no longer inhabited by Kaufman, something seems to bubble inside him when he talks about the man.

*****On November 14th Bob Corker held hearings on executive authority to use nuke’s .

*****The Louis CK film I was looking forward to ‘I love you Daddy’ looks like a wash.

*****They say the Pres has no control over fuel prices but Trump in.. prices soaring.

*****Rwanda has offered to host African migrants stranded in Libya.

*****Why do people always say they did not think it would happen to them or their communities when shootings happen? How long does it take to sink in to Americans that mental illness and this obsession with weapons is everywhere?  I will agree with a couple of things that the NRA says like we need to enforce the rules in place better a that mental health is a big part of the problem. If mental health is the real issue then where is the universal health care we need to take care of this problem?

*****GQ has named Colin Kaepernick citizen of the year.

*****Just as I am posting this the Mike Flynn charges were announced. They broke into the news with this news. A real reporter must never get any sleep in these Trump times. Apparently he is pleading guilty and cooperating in the Russian investigation. Go Go GO DOJ!

*****Why is the last sketch on Saturday Night Live usually the best?

*****R.I.P. Dennis Banks, Liz Smith, Lil Peep, Malcolm Young, George Young, Brad Bufanda, victims of the Texas church shooting, Gloria Fallon, Roy Halladay, Robert Knight, Chuck Mosley, John Hillerman, Paul Buckmaster, Mel Tillis, Della Reese, David Cassidy, Earle Hyman, Joseph L. White, Jim Nabors and Rance Howard.

��

[collymore]

Uncaringly, I was just another sexual abuse statistic!

By Stanley Collymore

I never wanted to be a parent having from the very earliest time that I can remember being sexually abused by my biological father who although he wasn’t married to my mother, and never did marry her, nevertheless still lived with us; and while I was much too young in the earliest stages of his sexual abuse of me to fully understand the sickening nature of his depravity, the consequences of what he was actually doing and how understandably perverted and cruelly wrong it all was to me, and especially so as I was undeniably his daughter. I did, however, as I grew older and in sheer desperation by then at long last confide to my mum my personal misgivings as I saw them then in relation to my father’s entirely unnatural and criminally disgusting behaviour towards me.

However, instead of her intuitively empathizing with and lovingly consoling me I instead quickly found myself entirely dismayed and emotionally stunned by the equanimity of my mother’s response as regards what I was telling her as she quite puzzlingly and chillingly reproached me for being an insensitive and utterly selfish “big baby” for callously casting unsubstantiated aspersions on my dad’s unblemished character and who in her unnerving words to me “was just expressing in physical terms his deep-seated and abundant love for me!” Making it explicitly clear that I was plainly nowhere - given the invidious circumstances I was now additionally placed in - near to convincing my own mother that what my dad had time and again done to me and was still an ongoing situation with him wasn’t only physically hurting and emotionally damaging to me but also and even from my young and very sexually untutored perspective was particularly wicked and totally wrong. Yet in spite of that my mum on top of my dad’s rampant sexual abuse of me had knowingly, deviously complicit, and all this coupled with dad’s illicit and debauched actions towards me, aggravated this vile obscenity precisely through her rank and abysmal betrayal of me!

© Stanley V. Collymore 4 March 2017.

Author’s Remarks: I’m well aware that a purported official inquiry reluctantly set up by the British Tory regime and UK parliament both of them shamed into doing so by public pressure and opinion and relating to historic child sexual abuse allegations over a period of several decades across Britain is belatedly and shambolically underway. But in reporting this fact let me categorically and unambiguously make it absolutely clear that from a principled and personal perspective neither this inquiry nor its expected future findings, whatever they turn out to be, are of will be of the slightest interest to me; and with exceedingly good reasons.

The first of these being that the heinous allegations long and methodically ignored or else brazenly, callously and officially covered up in what’s undeniably class-structured, toadying and cap-doffing Britain by all the relevant authorities that were duty bound to probe them but adamantly, unethically, sycophantically to their perceived social betters and even criminally refused to do so because those making the allegations were disdainfully and dismissively regarded at best as Plebeians or worst more generally as the lower classes who didn’t matter in the least while those in the firing line of their concerted allegations were and still are among Britain’s most powerful and massively influential political, financial, governing, social, celebrity and privileged elites; the unchallengeable untouchables as it were!

The second reason: equally logical and laudable on my part, is my absolute distrust of those who’re involved with this purported inquiry, which essentially is nothing more than a rather premeditatedly devised and cynically conducted whitewash together with a calculated and deceitful sop to the orchestrated “sensitivities” of a seriously unthinking British public always eager to jump onto any populist-perceived bandwagon which might, however transiently so, ameliorate the deeply ingrained and totally insecure awareness of their manifest lack of self-worth.

A chaotic inquiry, to say the least, which was foot-draggingly at best and with implacable resistance and consummate hostility for the greater part and most of the time by those who were enforcedly through mounting public pressure obliged to set it up, actually deigned to arrogantly insult the acuity of the intelligent among the British public by nepotistically drafting in those from among its own privileged ranks and the said category of persons that were closely allied with those under suspicion for these ghastly crimes to literally “investigate” these people. Natural justice, neutrality and fair play aside a state of affairs that either didn’t dawn on or were knowingly and asininely ignored by those responsible for this totally obtuse state of affairs.

Yet all the same haughtily taking no cognizance of these facts until overwhelming public condemnation and mounting pressure grudgingly forced them to cosmetically tamper with their designated and instituted modus operandi which was and still is to permanently shield from public exposure, irrevocable ignominy and a humiliating prosecution the plethora of perverts, paedophiles and the other inured criminal, sexual deviants that form an integral of the establishers’ of this inquiry’s intimately close and treasured political, financial and social “privileged elite” circles.

My third and principal reason of the many others that readily come to mind and justly necessitate my taking the principled stance I have, is that all of these “victims” even at a cursory glance are irrefutably white. What’s wrong with that I hear you ask; can’t whites be victims as well? Of course they can is my blunt and honest answer but NOT exclusively so! For I know and every other principled person does that Blacks and other non-whites not only in Britain but for several centuries across its global empire have routinely been victims of English and British barbarities and among these massive catalogues of their crimes have been recurrent and barbaric sexual abuse. And to cite just two examples of these my own case and that of my fellow Afro-Caribbean kith and kin – a cute expression that you whites lovingly like to use as regards yourselves. Don’t get me wrong! I’ve never been personally raped or sexually abused by anyone whether white or Black, and had anyone tried to far less so succeeded in doing so at any stage of my life I don’t think they’d be alive to boast about it subsequently for knowing what had been done to me even supposedly so as a child I would have sought them out in my adulthood and killed them. I’m simply referring, in reference to the above, to the systematic implantation of the white male Y chromosome that was enforcedly injected into my DNA system and that of all other African Caribbean people, whether living at home in the West Indies or our wider global Diaspora, because of the unrelenting methodical rape of our Black female ancestors within those Caribbean islands; so much such that many of us have more white genes in us than several of you who hubristically and vaingloriously claim to be white.

My second example also includes Black people, and in this case rural Kenyan women in long-established tribal social communities, who were in more recent times routinely gang-raped and callously impregnated by British soldiers garrisoned there and compelled to bear their children because ethically abortion was out of the question for them. But rather than own up to these despicable rapes and rampant sexual abuse the MoD despite the vast amount of evidence to support these ladies claims sought to and successfully portrayed in the media, when these Black women complained of what had happened to them, that they were “prostitutes” who were out for pecuniary advantage by sullying the good name of these British soldiers.

Now that might satisfy the brain-dead in Britain who have an exaggerated and even a delusional; notion of who and what the British Armed Forces are, but I served in the RAF and know from firsthand just how barbaric some elements of our boys can be. But there are other Blacks too; and in this case the Aborigines of Australia whose children were forcibly taken from their parents and sent to concentration camps – for essentially that’s precisely what they were – to effectively have their blackness bred out of them; babies and toddlers among them. But will there be an inquiry about their treatment? Don’t hold your breath on that one. So my deliberate stance on saying “Fuck You” in relation to this British “inquiry” isn’t because of any insensitivity on my part towards the “genuine” victims involved but simply because I’m sick and fucking tired of the conceited assumption on the part of whites and especially British ones that only white Caucasians have sensitivities, unlike every other race, and when these are trodden upon regardless of when this is supposed to have happened these must humanely and understandably be dealt with in a manner that only whites are exclusively entitled to; never mind white Britain and Europe’s loathsome conduct globally for centuries, and which is still ongoing, as regards millions of other unfortunate victims – yes victims – in the Global South.

But the poem that I’m written: “Uncaringly, I was just another sexual abuse statistic!” is based on a real life story that I know of from personal experience and involved a young female who from her earliest childhood was sexually abused by her biological father and with the complicit assistance of her own mother. Incidentally all the participants were white.

Rachel and I first met in rather compromising circumstances for her. She was accidentally seen by me shoplifting in an Indian grocery store where I was and was a frequent shopper myself but before I could approach her and politely request that she refrained from what she was doing but with her apparently also having been seen by one of the store’s staff members Rachel was confronted, detained and the police about to be summoned. Knowing the store’s manager as I personally did this girl who was a complete stranger to me and only about 14 years old at the time and I could clearly see was thoroughly frightened by the consequences of her actions, I intervened on her behalf with the store’s manager and persuaded him not to call the police.

I then paid for the items that Rachel, whose name I’d acquired from her, had stolen as she had no money with her. Then with a firm but measured reprimand of her by the shop’s manager and with my business card to a local, voluntary outreach and extra-curricular educational project that I’d set up a while back and was in charge of running handed to her and additionally my invitation to her to attend some of its sessions if she cared to, Rachel left the Indian grocery store.

As I’d expectantly hoped for Rachel not only attended but also became actively involved in the project itself during which time and with my having gained her confidence, and respect I guess, she voluntarily and openly confided in me about her past; essentially her life history. Superbly in due course and as a direct consequence of her involvement with the project Rachel became an absolutely transformed individual, a process that saw her embrace life fully, what it had to offer her and appreciably how she could positively make the most of it, a situation that resulted in her becoming an impressively university-qualified person in the field of work that she freely and decidedly opted for. But significantly too the loving wife and adorable mother whom in the darkest hours and most traumatic growing up years she’d enforcedly and without familial help endured solemnly vowed that were she to survive to adulthood she’d never become. Now all of that was emphatically behind her.