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Mole

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Everything posted by Mole

  1. Regarding the sax, Harvey Pittel (retired UT professor and world renowned classical sax player) has some great videos on YouTube discussing technique and how to play in a healthy manner. Pittel studied with Joe Allard, who taught most of the great players from the pervious generation. There’s a great, extended interview with Joe Allard on YouTube if you look for it.
  2. Same here, but my text came after dinner time last night.
  3. Well Q and Mark are often described as the source for the Gospels, so it makes sense that modern day Q would help write a new gospel.
  4. I’d add to this, for me, the Texas game has been the first sports I’ve watched since March. The NBA playoffs are one of my favorite events (the world’s best athletes in a 7 game chess match is awesome), but I haven’t really had much interest this year. It isn’t the social issues or the weirdness of the environment or some sort of illegitimacy for the seasons; it just seems less important. For me, this is for two reasons: 1. I’ve personally seen enough suffering and death related to our current situations that watching games that I’m not REALLY invested in seems uninteresting. Escape is good, but I’d rather be productive. 2. The current state of our world means that my work life is busier and way more complicated. I’m simply too busy and too tired to sit through a game unless I’m invested in the players. I work in higher ed and most of my students seem to be walking around in a similar fog. It was really nice to watch the Texas game though. The lack of band, etc. made it less colorful, but the lack of sucking made up for it.
  5. Let’s be honest, there are few questions where a good answer is “we need more lawyers.”
  6. A few scattered, sometimes related points: 1. Come on, Ted. Stop exploiting the culture war for votes. 2. The claims that the show, which seems intended as cultural criticism, is normalizing the sexualizing of children seems to be a bit much. The culture war always demands a target though. 3. Criticizing how our culture deals with the sexuality of children, particularly girls, is valid. We are exploitive and need to change. To the extent that this show accomplishes that, good for them. 4. Critiquing the over-sexualizing and sexual exploitation of children, particularly girls, by sexualizing them seems to be a bit much; exploitive even. It can be a murky line to walk, but I think that line is discernible. 5. The show appears to be guilty of the very things it is criticizing. When it comes to artistic expression, I tend to value freedom of speech above all else, but this is pretty icky. 6. Seriously though, come on, Ted. Coming after this admittedly icky show while simultaneously supporting your president’s predatory behavior and involvement in the exploitation of children (Miss USA, trafficking and the border mess, his admissions on tape, his possible connections to actual child traffickers, etc.) seems disingenuous.
  7. Mole

    Another one...

    If only; how do the rules of engagement compare?
  8. The Fox website is running with Woodward should have gone public with the COVID stuff to save lives.
  9. I’ve gone back and forth on the responsibility of the anonymous sources to come out. My current view is that once they come out, they become the story. Their credibility, which is defined as loyalty to Trump, becomes the focus. The moment they are revealed, a new excuse will emerge. As long as they are anonymous, the story remains the focus. I think anonymous is good for now. It’s been confirmed by multiple outlets, including Fox. It rings true based on his own words. The denial was marked by verifiable untruths. As is, it’s extremely credible.
  10. For as dark of a timeline as it is, we do have a consistent and coherent artistic aesthetic. It’s weird, but it’s coherent and appropriate for the time. 100 years from now, Chinese art history PHD candidates will be studying meme art and satirical collage during the fall of the American empire.
  11. So the Trump flags in general, that’s really weird, right?
  12. This is a fair point. This broke my brain in a way I can't fully articulate. I'm still trying to understand it. I think it has something to do with our shared values. Our government has been cruel since its founding, so Trump's cruelty isn't a new thing, it's just a different brand. Toddler law is horrifying and terrifying, but so are so many things we've done throughout our history. That's not an excuse or whatabout for horrifying policies, it's just a question of degree rather than kind. It's easy to settle into a quasi both sides cynicism. This military thing isn't simply name calling, it's an open rejection of the foundational and remaining bipartisan values that we all tend to exalt: selfless sacrifice for the common good. Military funerals and cemeteries are meaningful because of the values they represent. Trump's statements are a plain rejection of these values. If you see Trump as a human-like manifestation of our national character, this is disturbing in different way than the kids in cages were. They were far more cruel to the kids, but it represented cruelty towards an outsider or perceived enemy. Even if I don't agree, I can understand how a person might end up at that conclusion. But if my country doesn't even aspire to our own values any more, I'm not sure what to even do with that. I can understand the cruelty even if I hate it; this breaks my brain. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. I do know this aroused a very different kind of anger.
  13. There are absolutely unhealthy things about this country’s relationship with its military. There’s the over-the-top hero worship; there’s politicization where criticism of policies or lack of proper respect to the symbols of patriotism is recast as disrespect to the people who serve (see Kap taking a knee); and of course there are the endless and perpetual wars. There’s a real discussion to be had there, but as you noted, this isn’t what’s happening and isn’t the place. This is profaning the core values of everything we should hope to aspire to. There’s no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend. It doesn’t say “there’s no greater loser.” Any post-hoc justifications of this is 100% dishonest.
  14. Neil Young’s Trans is a beautiful album.
  15. I like the Beatles and think they were the most important popular music group of their era, but I still think they’re wildly overrated.
  16. I’ve learned something about myself over the past few months. Nothing brings up my righteous anger like profaning the sacred. Places of worship are sacred places to me and the tear gas photo op introduced me to a new kind of political anger. Military cemeteries and fallen servicemen are sacred to me and this feels the same. Unlike some, I appreciated when he skipped the WWI memorial because he had no business there, but his articulated disgust towards actual selfless service short-circuits my brain.
  17. In order to lie effectively, you need to tell the truth once in a while, otherwise everyone can always assume that you’re lying.
  18. More on the military poll https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/08/31/as-trumps-popularity-slips-in-latest-military-times-poll-more-troops-say-theyll-vote-for-biden/
  19. Does the gig come with the power to send blinking mail icons?
  20. Wait, that’s not a joke? As a joke it’s pretty funny. As a serious point, it’s even funnier.
  21. I teach college students; they tell me all sorts of insane things — terrifying personal (non-sexual) things that no one should ever hear — but I haven't heard a word about the period... until now, from an old man on the internet. I haven't noticed any avoidance in any student writing either, just lots of misplaced homophones. The worst part of the em dash: typing it. I can never remember how to type it [the em dash], so I Google, copy, and paste as needed.
  22. 1. I love semicolons; they’re very powerful tools. 2. I don’t mark off for terrible grammar so much as make them resubmit until it doesn’t suck. Time is a powerful motivator. Measure twice, cut once. 3. I’m on team single space after a period. Likewise, I don’t lament the decline of calligraphy or complain that reading and writing is killing oral traditions. A flexible mind can adapt to better ways of communicating. 4. Effective communication should reflect its mode. Academic writing should be pedantic and indecipherable; emails should be clear and passive aggressive; texts should maximize efficiency and gifs.
  23. If you view the police issue as not just a national issue but rather a widespread series of local issues, the players and owners wield enormous economic and cultural influence in their respective communities. If the players can get the owners to put pressure on the right people, many issues could be resolved locally.
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