Mental bric-a-brac

stuff from the cutting room floor of my mind

1. Social Justice/Woke Warriors often get that way because they were abused as children.
   
   This does not excuse their behavior, but it can help explain it. That guy who wants to save all women from the patriarchy? That gal who thinks it’s her sole responsibility to atone for the past sins of all white people?
   
   They were likely “parentified” in childhood. Mom (usually) put them in a “caretaker” role, rather than recognizing that they were children, not her support system or spouse.
   
   This can lead to a perverted understanding of responsibility.
   
   Ask me how I know.
   
   2. Logarithmic scales are nerve-wracking. Things that just keep accelerating bother me. It’s so out of control.
   
   3. Boiling is the best method of cleaning your cast-iron. It’s just an extended form of “deglazing” the pan as you do when you make a pan sauce. Set that skillet on the stove, put in water, and boil away that stuck on food, scraping gently.
   
   4. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn demonstrates two important principles of good movie-making:
   
   a. Budget constraints forced hard and creative choices. As director Nick Meyer said of the film, “art thrives on restrictions.” Those restrictions gave us the most beautiful capital ship battle sequences ever filmed.
   
   b. When in doubt, make it an underwater naval story. People speak of ST II as a modern Moby Dick, and it is, but that’s not what makes it. What makes it is that it’s a submarine picture. Nick Meyer treated the Enterprise as a submarine (note the X,Y,Z axis tilt instruments when the ship is hit, notice the claustrophobic military pipes-and-chutes) evading depth charges from the Reliant.
   
   

   

5. Cafe Bustelo is your best grocery store coffee value. It’s better than it has a right to be for the price, and the fine espresso grind makes nearly twice as much coffee per scoop as regular.
   
   

6. Good morning from Mons Felinis
   

   

   

   
   Himb was extra cuddly last night after dispatching Mirror Universe Shredder in the back yard. MUS is a big fat black Tom who lives around the corner and is Shredder in every way except he’s Mirror Universe (no goatee though).
   
   Shredder was OFFEND that someone dared invade the borders of his realm. When I broke up the fight Shredder had a mouthful of black fur as if he’d just swallowed a black canary.
   
   Yes, my arm paid the price for breaking up the fight. That’s life when you serve the King.