The image is from a short film: https://youtu.be/5iL1f-jV32A

George Stinney's execution is an example of how terrible we can be to each other. It has been depicted on screen a couple of times and is always gut-wrenching to watch. I just wanted you to know that this is not actual footage of him.

"I didn't say she was crazy, I said she was fucking Goofy!"

Rage bait, maybe. But I chuckled, and that is good enough for me.

I'm a staunch atheist who likes a holiday.

Jesus was most likely born in the spring or fall a few years earlier than we recognize, if he was even a single person or existed at all. The Church, as it did every time, took existing holidays and co-opted them.

The end of the Roman calendar year is an amalgam of pagan holidays that celebrate the shortest day/longest night. A lot of the traditions we associate with Xmas are celebrating the beginning of the lengthening of the day and the return to life/springtime.

Xmas has always been a meta holiday. Most are. Enjoy the company of friends and family just as people have for millenia, no matter what banner is hanging over the mantle.

You don't need AI to create soulless depictions of humanity, James Cameron already does that. I think he is just protecting his bread and butter from automation.

Snark aside, I grew up loving his movies. As a film student, I loved taking them apart in critique for his mastery of technical filmmaking. As a professor, I used the DVD extras from his films to show just how forward-thinking his knowledge was of VFX. But this Avatar garbage is just the result of a kid who finally leveled up enough to produce the comic book he wrote when he was 8. It's awful.

Hell arrived a while ago and it is summer on Lake Myvatn, or Midge Lake. You can't breathe without inhaling insects, so you have to wear a mask just in case a cloud of those things happen your way.

Weather Channel just reported a 6 foot peak in Hawaii. It was the 1st time in over a decade they sounded the tsunami sirens.

It is Marching Season in Northern Ireland, when Protestants hold parades, marches and bonfires celebrating a Protestant victory over Catholics in 1690. The season runs from Easter to September, but the peak is in July.

This effigy is definitely a product of ultra right-wing talking points and mounting tension from anti-immigrant sentiment. It's not a healthy expression of a valid concern. There are mannequins depicting human beings at the top of the pyre. Under it is a sign that tells you exactly the group they want to harm. Further, a sign that says "veterans before immigrants" sets up a false dichotomy that pits two unrelated groups against each other. It has all the tropes of this type of propaganda.

The designers and builders of the pyre should not be celebrated and should face some legal backlash.

Avalon on the island of Catalina. It's the one and only town on the island and there isn't really anywhere else to go. People use golf carts to get around. There are no gas stations on the island, so if you do have a car, you have to import your own fuel or use the marina.

Miniscule car infrastructure + laws limiting the number of cars on the island = no car culture. Bam.

From the article: "There’s something about the freedom of mobility and there’s something very American about it, and so, I also think that there’s a lot of people around the world that think about American cars, and they think about American road trips, and we want to invite the rest of the world. They’re going to come for FIFA’s club games, or they’re going to come for the World Cup, or they’re going to come for the Olympics, come and see sporting events, but then you can also take a week or 10 days with my family to travel around this great country. Stop at our great restaurants. Stay in our wonderful motels or hotels. Gas up your car with great American energy."

THIS is actual car-brain thinking. I see a lot of memes in fuck cars attacking individuals and the choices they are forced to make, but this article illustrates issues that we have to fight. It's got all the delusion you expect from a government source written by car companies: tying car ownership to freedom, oddly thinking that non-americans think about our car culture as a positive experience, and that wonderfully tone-deaf tagline.

Your city likely has some form of a transportation committee. Join it. Go to the meetings. The switch to Zoom has made it even easier to do so. My experience with our local zoning committee has reinforced that you have to fight like hell, even with your own neighbors, to do simple things like decrease parking requirements. Car-brain is real and it's propped up by decades of propaganda and policy.

Finally getting around to Andor S2 (I wanted to devote full attention so I had to wait for a break in my schedule) SPOILER AHEAD: I just watched the Ghorman massacre today. Wow. And so many notes from current events.

Andor S1 did an excellent job of characterizing the start of a revolution, I knew S2 wouldn't let me down.

The Red Room hands out estrogen pills as yet another form of control. If you don't behave, you don't get your daily fix. You can tell the non-compliant girls by the lack of secondary sex characteristics. Ol Washboard Wendy over there is a rebel!