Esoteric References

I'm that guy who makes references only a handful of people would get, and it's an interesting feeling.

When I get up, I listen to news podcasts, as I do when I'm alone at lunch, and when I'm doing something at work that doesn't require as much concentration. Even so, sometimes I blank. I'm even having some memory problems where I'm not as sharp at remembering what I've experienced and said than I've not.

But I know about Koeppen climates, North Dakota weather, and the population of Wyoming.

I could tell you about the seal they had to take off an airport runway in Utqiagvik sooner than I could that there, apparently a couple years ago, was a smash-though of a Chinese restaurant around the corner from my apartment and an armed altercation at the Kroger next door to it within the same month.

I know some world leaders' names a little more easily than I do my own constituency representatives.

But it's all okay. It's lonely, and I only slightly care, but it's okay.

Recommended Reading

I've, for quite a bit of my life, described myself as an information vampire. Whenever news apps like Flipboard and Apple News, as well as the Google Search app, have asked for my opinion on keywords and/or topics I'd like to see more of, I'd found myself tapping on many of them. I'd wanted to know about a lot of them (especially with countries/states that I don't hear about often, as I'd talked about somewhat before), even though there were limits to what I could read, or that the app would allow me to read in the case of Apple News.

There's only so much information I can take in because of biological need to sleep, limitations of my mind, and lack of desire to read certain stories (usually reality TV- or sports-related). Still, sometimes because something is "trending", it may still appear on my dashboard, which is a little annoying.

I'm generally not inclined to read sports just about as much as I tend to not watch certain videos. I don't want to outright say, or put into their minds, that I don't want to see those types of recommendations, but I don't really care to see them either.

That rationale sounds rather familiar ("I'm not racist, but I don't date Black/Asian/Latin@/White/whatever else people."). I guess this mindset comes in all kinds of forms, except some people just block people rather than have to possibly deal ("all the time") with having to reject someone because they don't fit your definition of "ideal".

We're hurtful creatures, humans.

Creepy Revenge

	Kristopha Hohn (@seishin17)
9/1/17, 7:26 PM I really don't get the mindset of not-clinically-crazy people who *save* excrement (liquid/solid) specifically to use it on/against someone.

I'd written this after hearing that, apparently, sometime fairly recently a guy had thrown a cup of pee at a bus driver. The guy was on a bus... and had a cup of pee ready to throw on a bus driver. That's... insane.

It's about as insane as this woman I'd heard about who'd been having a conversation/argument with her husband. He'd fallen asleep, so (naturally) she'd set him on fire and then put out the fire with some urine she'd had conveniently. At least with this one, they were at home, so she conceivably could have had a bedpan or something to put it out. Setting him on fire and then putting it out with pee, that's... interesting.

I'd also had on the thought docket the anecdotes and comedy movie fodder I've seen over the years of people putting bags of dog feces in front of people's doors, lighting it on fire, ringing the doorbell and then running. This leaves the occupant of the house to open the door (almost always male), see the flames, and stamp on the flames (and the bag of shit) to put it out. What person waits for their dog to need to defecate, collect it in a paper bag, and then store it (somehow) until it comes time to play the prank? What person?

I've heard of really extremist (and, in my opinion, cracked) PETA folks throwing combinations of feces and urine on their targets.

Then, this still doesn't give me reasons on my tweet: what non-crazy person does this, and why?

Well, the why, I can understand somewhat. Excrement is something we as humans really dislike for the most part. We want to get rid of it. We want nothing to do with it, and we want to remove ourselves from it as quickly as we're able. I've said excretion is one of the vital human functions I'd rather not have to do (along with eating, and most times, sleeping). Using excrement against someone is a giant insult to that person, then, or at least a way to demean that person.

The storage of it, though, that's... dedication.

Otto W.

So, I'd revealed a thought I had about Otto Warmbier's situation today: that North Korea didn't want anyone to think it was possible — or that anyone would do it in their country — but that Otto Warmbier may have tried to take his own life unsuccessfully.

Naturally, since this is one of those "unthinkable" things, and because it does sound somewhat callous to think it, it's not a thought that would go over well.

I'm a person who tends to have logical leaps, thinking things that seem so probable and right, but not being able to substantiate it with hard evidence. Some may call them hunches, but it's more than that. I think of things with having experienced, read, thought, or otherwise went over them before, but I just can't cite my sources (I usually can't remember them). I did have such a leap a while ago when someone in the news had died and I'd figured it s suicide.

It turned out to be such, and they left it alone after that (I suppose to not "glorify" the act).

It shouldn't be so wild to think someone might try suicide if under conditions where oppression, lack of freedom, and hardship are almost the whole of one's day. A friend of mine brought up that it would probably be painful for the parents to hear someone think their son might have tried to kill himself. I did mention there's nothing to refute completely that option, but I did understand that line of thinking.

It wouldn't excuse North Korea if they didn't contribute directly to his death (as in, he would have been the initiator, if it was attempted suicide), but they'd be at least manslaughterers.

It would be another turn on the Massachusetts case that found the girl guilty for egging on her ex-boyfriend to kill himself: the judge convicted her of involuntary manslaughter.

June

What is it about the month of June?

What comes readily to mind with June is when I feel really bluesy… like really. I'd thought about it and it has been recurring, but I haven't been able to trace the cause.

But this June, with the terrorist attacks, and anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre, and then the UPS murder-suicide-ish, the London building fire, the Virginia baseball game shooting, and any more things that have made major news in rapid succession… It's almost wow-ing if it weren't that the world has a lot more examples of thing that happen every second of every day.

We can't keep track of them all, but if it were possible I'd love to know if June has some kind of edge in the tragedies department.

The News Cycle

In another thought about news, I sometimes regret being someone who likes to listen to news because it can sometimes trigger one of my giant pet peeves: certain repetition in speech.

Between yesterday and today, I've probably heard some generally-the-same iteration of President Trump's Paris Climate Accord decision. It was annoying. Whether it was the BBC, the CBC, NPR, PRI, American Public Media, or KSL in Salt Lake City, Utah, I got it.

I had to brace to not exhale furiously.

I need to listen to some stories.

Flyover News

Sometimes I've wondered why I have a fascination with news from relatively strange places (i.e. places to where people generally pay little attention). The answer dawned on me pretty quickly: I like novel things and the fact the news media in general repeats things ad infinitum instead of trying to get to the nitty gritty of more things, I seek out these other places' stories.

Some of these places have some odd stories they seem to esteem and put in repeat play themselves. Just this week, Monday through early Thursday Utah couldn't really talk about more than the $125,000 Joseph Smith/Brigham Young statue theft. Montana, like the rest of the nation, focused quite a bit on Greg Gionforte's (admitted, though in not so many words, but about which he'd apologized) manhandling a reporter.

I don't like repeating myself, but I have told my co-workers fairly repeatedly I love stories. So, I'd created a smart magazine just for the "flyover states". I don't mean it pejoratively, but it's at least a blanket term.

So, bring me stories, Flipboard. Bring me stories.

Aaron Hernandez's "Gay Prison Lover"

So, I bit on clickbait.

I mean, why not, it's Aaron Hernandez? Between the fact it's a for-them-to-prove-but-they-say-so suicide, and he's reasonably good-looking, this story has gotten way more press than I'd imagine it should. Then, Instinct Magazine decides to reprint something the gossip rag The Daily Mail put out: he wrote a suicide note to a gay, in-prison lover.

They're seriously quoting The Daily Mail as a legitimate source? Seriously?! That's like quoting The National Enquirer (RIP).

Most serious press, if they say "sources say" and they've established themselves with journalistic integrity, they can get a pass. More than likely they're keeping the source anonymous for the source's well-being. When The Daily Mail says it?

Well, it could be hogwash.

Expected Sensationalism?

Okay, so I'm going through my tweet stream today and saw this, a re-tweet someone I follow had done of someone he follows, who in turn had quote tweeted a news station's tweet.

Seeing this, I really wanted to reply to her. The way I'd interpreted what she'd said was that the article doesn't mention the fact the couple had arms during their campaign. I read the article and midway down it was explicit to that they did have arms.

I decided to not reply because I'd thought about it and reinterpreted it to probably mean the actual tweet contents before the link. I read what others replied and some had the same initial interpretation I did, some the second, and the rest had some other interesting things to say.

There were, of course, those who applauded the fact the couple got a conviction. This I can understand. Being passionate about a cause is something, but possibly endangering others is definitely controversial.

Some derided the couple's racism. Yes, race more than likely factored into this ("more than likely" because it's just the one article, and I haven't taken in enough information, nor was I there, for me to say "this is racist", even though it does have hallmarks of it).

Some called the ABC affiliate racist for a few reasons. The one that seemed to peek out was the headline seeming to indicate "racial slurs" as the motivating factor for the conviction. It very well could have been, and the fact the couple had arms was an aggravating factor in the severity of the conviction. They thought the station should have put the "armed" part first, or instead of, "racial slurs". I'm just receiving these facts third-hand, so I can't make that kind of judgment. Some cite the reasoning as clickbait. Either way, people are going to click on it.

There are even some who say the station is racist and is enabling others the repliers call racist to use this as ammunition for their own messages.

Some, naturally, blamed Donald Trump, because that's apparently what people do: no matter who's the president there's blame on the president. I didn't vote for him, but he's the president, and God's sovereign. I leave it up to God.

In my mind racial slurs or Confederate flags sound less sensational than guns. Maybe the birthday party part is more sensational? I don't even know. Lately I've been more taking in things without really reacting to them.

But some can't.

Magnamon the Jihadist

So this is a throwback from my burgeoning adulthood, a card I'd seen from one of my all-time favorite series Digimon.

A little background for the unaware:

Digimon are digital monsters, creatures that exist in a virtual/computer world that have the ability to evolve into superior forms as their energy increases. In the case of this one, Magnamon, a specific lower-level digimon (often one called Veemon) takes hold of something called a digimental (an ancient power object, essentially) and evolves into Magnamon, one of the most powerful digimon in existence.

As a rule of anime in general, whenever there are named attacks, the attacker (often a good guy and often the leader-type) has 必殺技 (hissatsu waza, or a “sure-kill attack”), an attack that completely disarms, makes harmless, or destroys the target.

In the English versions of the cards (and in the anime dub), they've interpreted Magnamon's sure-kill attack to be "Magna Blast". For the record, though, I've included the image of an original Japanese card to show what the original name of the attack is, bringing me to the point of this post.

Anime has been a hot-button topic for a lot of people because the Japanese creators of these manga/shows often seem to have blissful ignorance of what the things they create might mean to audiences outside Japan, or how sensitive they might be to it (at least until the late 90's to early 2000's when it really took off internationally).

I mean, I don't think many Japanese had even thought about jihadism until the IS/ISIS/ISIL agent "Jihadi John" beheaded two of their citizens recently, so Magnamon's "Japanese-language" attack (even though it is, essentially, borrowed English) would barely phase them whereas the rest of the world would probably be in an uproar because of it.

Magnamon's sure-kill attack is エクストリーム・ジハード.

Literal translation into English is "Extreme Jihad."

Expansion: I have been remiss to mention the character of Magnamon is a holy warrior in the card mythology.

IS/Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL?

We've been hearing about them almost incessantly for the better part of the year. They'd seemingly started calling themselves the Arabic equivalent of ISIS, and then later "decided" to call themselves instead Islamic State, reasons in the news being they're exerting independence and individuality apart from Syria, the Levant, and Iraq.

Some media outfits, like Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera, and elements of the BBC, had followed suit and called them IS or "the Islamic State group", still acknowledging some still call them ISIS or ISIL. I've never quite understood concretely why some elect to call them one way or another.

American news outlets like CNN and Fox News still predominately call them ISIS, and I think it may be partly because the US government in general still calls them that as well.

Is it perhaps to deny them the "satisfaction" of hearing people address them with the name they wish people to call them? I wouldn't doubt that's a probability, but there hasn't seemed to be any discussion on that. It's also seemed there are some who had gotten so used to calling them ISIS, or ISIL, that they just continue calling them that since all of it is generally coterminous.

It reminds me of something else I'd brought up in the past about maps that showed Crimea as still part of Ukraine rather than, at the least, showing it as a disputed area that happened to have had a referendum deciding to cede themselves to Russia.

I believe they should do both, at the very least, much like Deutsche Welle has done ("the Islamic State, also called ISIS"). That seems to be the fairest thing in my view.

Fire hits Palin's church in Alaska

CNN.com: I'm sorry, but even if some people think she's baneful or whatever, there is no excuse for this. I somewhat liked her, and she's surprised me a few times.

This, however, is wrong, and I hope the party responsible, if there is one, is caught and punished.

Bad.

"Ossetia's connection to Scotland"

BBC NEWS Programmes From Our Own Correspondent: Well, here we have My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Ossetian style.

Woman arrested in cold case has other dead spouses

USATODAY.com

Black widow granny did it!

How to Find Smoke-Free Hotel Rooms Worldwide

The Good Life HOT MAR - TheStreet.com: "Hotels in North America are increasingly going smoke-free, but hotels in Europe and Asia often seem as slow as late-night room service when it comes to kicking the tobacco habit."

I don't mean to sound judgmental, but it's a nasty habit anyway. Smoke-free rooms all around, I say. That's been kind of a bone of contention among hoteliers I've known, because there are just some guests who don't feel they can get up and go outside to smoke.

They'll try to rig smoke detectors, smoke next to exhaust fans... Anything rather than get up and walk.

Jobless lorry driver 'sold' The Ritz hotel to businessman in £250million con

The Daily Mail:
"When businessman Terry Collins was offered the chance to buy the Ritz Hotel for a knockdown price of £250million it was an opportunity that sounded too good to be true.
And it was indeed too good to be true. The hotel, with an estimated market value of around £600million, was not on the market.
Yet two conmen managed to persuade Mr Collins, co-founder of a large and reputable property company, that the hotel's owners, the Barclay brothers, were prepared to sell it at a bargain price."

Now, I'm not one to arbitrarily post something from The Daily Mail, especially since it's not the most worthy piece of news media on this planet... However, I'd originally seen this on one of the hospitality news sources to which I subscribe, and thought, "Oh, well they're a little more reputable, so I suppose it can't be all that bad." I'm not really certain in the figures TDM quote as being what these con artists had spent, as well as on what they'd spent the sum they'd philandered, but it was rather TMZ-like of them, anyway.

Still, I think this businessman should've researched his investment's worth a little more throughly before putting down the pounds, which, if he wins back, will probably be reallocated to legal fees anyway.

Vandalism on online epilepsy forum triggers convulsions

Wikinews: "An internet forum, run by the non-profit Epilepsy Foundation, was attacked last week by a group of vandals. The attack, first reported by Wired News, exploited a function of the forums to post JavaScript code. The code injected by the vandals flashed two images repeatedly and tried to lead users off to external websites showing flashing lights and shapes intended to trigger off epileptic fits."

Sex offenders face website bans

BBC NEWS UK : "Sex offenders' e-mail addresses are to be passed to social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo to prevent them contacting children."