Starflier

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Here are the raw images which make up the

EAT NO FOOD A BIRD HAS TOUCHED human hygiene infopamphlet

of yesteryear.  I don’t know what happened to the design document which had them in layout.  But this is basically it.

Still have some copies of it anyway.  Feel free to print out the fifth image and sign it.  If you are a serious person who is determined to choose order over filth and destitution.

…is this guy who makes his living giving other people financial advice.

And a lot of what he says has common sense and empirical evidence backing it up.[1]

But a lot of what he says reflects a smug I-am-richer-therefore-better-than-you attitude coupled with arrogant pig-ignorance on what it means to be poor in this country.

He recently posted a list from fellow blog-roller Tom Corley called “20 Things the Rich Do Every Day” which demonstrated to their satisfaction why God loves rich white people like them more than he loves poor non-whites. [2]

Here, let’s dip our hands into their steaming hot mess:

2. 80% of wealthy are focused on accomplishing some single goal. Only 12% of the poor do this.  (Maybe because the poor can’t afford to hire gardeners and house cleaners and cooks and nannies and chauffeurs and accountants to take care of the day to day minutia such as jumping through hoops to make enough to eat and keep a roof over their heads.)

8. 80% of wealthy make Happy Birthday calls vs. 11% of poor.  (Wouldn’t have anything to do with the wealthy having support staff to remind them of such things, or placing those calls not because they give a flying fnck about the person on the other end but just want to stay networked with them for future business deals, or when there is a no-strings attached personal reason they’re calling people who are also wealthy enough to afford to live somewhere else and not just down the street like many poor people’s relations & friends.)

11. 6% of wealthy say what’s on their mind vs. 69% of poor.  (Which speaks volumes about how much you can trust wealthy people, doesn’t it?)

15. 44% of wealthy wake up three hours before work starts vs. 3% of poor.  (Because heaven knows sitting behind a desk ordering people about willy-nilly, playing slickee boi tricks to line your pockets, and being able to set your own pace and schedule is just like trudging across town in sub-zero weather to stand behind a fast food counter.)

I picked four out of twenty points, but I’m not being unfair.  They’re all like that.

It would be bad enough if Ramsey was some money-grubbin’ power-mad Randian who wished all the not-mes would shrivel up and die; that would be at least part & parcel with that psychopathic philosophy.

But Ramsey purports to be a Christian.

“Over the last two decades, my company has taught people what the Bible says about money…I have railed on things where the poor are oppressed in our culture—things like payday lending, rent-to-own, or our own government-sponsored oppression, the lottery…Because of this, I am amazed at how many of my brothers and sisters in Christ have attacked us because of a simple list posted on our website. Maybe it shouldn’t amaze me in our Twitter culture—where immature people now study, reflect, research and communicate in only 140 characters—yet it still does. The piece in question is a simple list outlining the habits of the poor versus the habits of the rich. It could just as easily have been a different list of the habits of the obese versus the habits of the physically fit.”

Because it’s not a simple list, and it certainly doesn’t list things that are indeed genuine self-defeating behaviors.[3]

“This list simply says your choices cause results. You reap what you sow. Is the research perfect? No. It is a small sample, but it does pass the common-sense smell test. Does this research or the reason for posting it have anything to do with third-world countries? No. Anyone with good walking-around sense can see that this is a first-world discussion. Is this list a way of hating the poor? Seriously? Grow up.”

Except that none of the cited differences in behavior are the cause of the wealthy being wealthy and the poor being poor, but rather the results of the wealthy being wealthy and the poor being poor.

You are blaming the victim, Dave, saying in effect “most healthy people don’t spit up large volumes of blood vs many dying people who do” as if all the dying person has to do is simply decide to no longer hemorrhage internally and they’ll be on their way to a full recovery in no time.[4]

Wanna know what poor people’s lives are like, Dave?  Ask Linda Tirado, why doncha?

“Poverty is bleak and cuts off your long-term brain. It’s why you see people with four different babydaddies instead of one. You grab a bit of connection wherever you can to survive. You have no idea how strong the pull to feel worthwhile is. It’s more basic than food. You go to these people who make you feel lovely for an hour that one time, and that’s all you get. You’re probably not compatible with them for anything long-term, but right this minute they can make you feel powerful and valuable. It does not matter what will happen in a month. Whatever happens in a month is probably going to be just about as indifferent as whatever happened today or last week. None of it matters. We don’t plan long-term because if we do we’ll just get our hearts broken. It’s best not to hope. You just take what you can get as you spot it.”

Try walking a mile in the shoes of a non-white working poor person, which is easy to do because most of them can’t afford cars, much less chauffeurs.[5]

“There is a direct correlation between your habits, choices and character in Christ and your propensity to build wealth in non-third-world settings. To dispute that or attribute hate to that statement is immature and ignorant.”

Wait — whoa — what?!?!?  ”Character in Christ” = “propensity to build wealth”?!?!?  Are we talking about the same Christ who taught “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions”

and

“Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven”

and

“where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

and

“it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God”

and

 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money”?

There’s a place for sound financial counseling, and there are doubtlessly specific tips and techniques that help people who are in poverty to break some of the bonds — self-imposed or thrust on them from above — that hold them down.

But Dave, that ain’t what you’re doing…

…and the beam in your eye is just too big for you to see that.

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[1]  Such as paying off small debts first so you have more resources to bring to bear on larger debts.

[2]  And while we’re at it, a big Bronx cheer for you, too, Tom.

[3]  Such as the aforementioned payday lending, rent-to-own, the lottery; all of which are brought about by better positioned predators to exploit the poor (but no matter, point taken).

[4]  Ben Irwin responds to Ramsey’s thesis, deconstructing them point by twenty point.  Frankly, I think Irwin’s response to Ramsey can be summed up thusly:

[5]  ”My wife and I started our lives with almost nothing, eating off a card table and driving two cars that did not total $2,000 in value.”

colourtrail:

trickortortle:

aspidelaps:

stagbeetleloveit:

aubrophonia:

THIS IS SO COOL

Eugh whoa

What is this from?

Beasts of Burden. uwu

It would help if people ever credited shit on tumblr.

this is cool…

Cellulose nitrate was used to make dice from the late 1860s until the middle of the twentieth century, and the material remains stable for decades. Then, in a flash, they can dramatically decompose. Nitric acid is released in a process called outgassing. The dice cleave, crumble, and then implode.

From Dice: Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck by Ricky Jay and Rosamond Purcell, 2002.

There’s a special kind of sad associated with carnival games.

For most people, that is.

Anything else at the carnival, you shell out shekels to get something tangible in return: 
A ride, a peek at the naked bearded lady, a corn dog.

…and while it’s not impossible for one to feel the experience wasn’t worth the full price of the ticket, one cannot deny one didn’t receive something in exchange for something else of value.

Not so with the games.

Oh, sure, there are plenty of Marks who realize it’s the equivalent of skipping their coins across a creek while shouting:  “Wheeeeeeeeee!” but far far far too many think they’re actually gonna somehow magically come out ahead on the deal.

Sad sad sad pathetic.

Now, it may come as a surprise to you to learn that carny Shills are capable of morals and ethics.

Their own peculiar brand of morals and ethics, to be sure, but morals and ethics nonetheless.

And in the Show, there are three ways Shills can make money off Marks.

A:  They can run a game where somebody wins something every time.
B:  They can run a game where somebody has a chance of winning something every time.
C:  They can run a game where it’s impossible for anyone to ever win anything.

[Question:  Which game do you think makes the most profit?  Which makes the least?  Place your bets now; we’ll pay out at the end.]

Game A [1] always has a pay out for somebody in every round.  Take the easiest and simplest to play:  The Pluck-A-Duck Game.  You have a tub filled with water, and a hundred identical plastic ducks floating in it.  Each duck has a number on the bottom.  The Mark pays the Shill, plucks a duck out of the tub, and whatever prize corresponds to the number on the bottom of the duck, that’s what the Mark gets to take home.

Here’s how it works:
Say the Shill charges twenty-five cents per pick; ducks 01-thru-85 will garner a one cent prize, ducks 86-thru-93 a five cent prize, ducks 94-thru-97 a ten cent prize, ducks 98 and 99 a twenty-five cent prize, and duck 00 is the big pay out with a dollar prize.

The Shill has a 97-to-3 chance of turning a profit on every play, a 99-to-1 chance of at least breaking even, and a 1-to-100 chance of losing 75% of his investment outlay for that particular prize on that particular round.

Not bad odds if you can
get ‘em…or make ‘em…

At an average profit of 82%-96% per round of play, the Shill can easily afford to give something away.  The Mark probably won’t break even or come out ahead on the deal based on the Shill’s prize costs, but, hey, they get something and at least the feeling that they had a chance.[2]

Game B is presented as a game of skill.[3]
Knock-Down-The-Cans is a prime example:
Knock all the cans down and win a prize of your choice.

Of course, the cans have been doctored and weighed so that they are nearly impossible to knock off their pedestal, even if the core of the oversize ball you were throwing wasn’t off-center.  But, hey, sometimes more through sheer blind luck than design somebody hits the sweet spot, the cans go down, and a prize is claimed.

Of course, it’s not one of the big prizes — those are for folks that knocked down three cans with three throws — but still, it’s a prize.  And the rules are openly posted and fairly administered.[4]

So no complaining.

Game C is an outright scam: 
You can’t win.  Period.  You can lay quarters down all night and never ever come close.[5]

So what have we learned from this, campers?

With the ride / sideshow / corn dog, you are paying for convenience.  Yes, you could build your own roller coaster in your back yard, but the expense would be pretty hefty.  You could ask your aunt not to pluck her facial hair for six months then go visit her.  You could smuggle your own corn dog onto the carny lot, but it wouldn’t be as piping hot as the one you could order right on the spot.

You are sharing in the expense of the carny with thousands of other people who are attending it as well.  In exchange for the experience of the carny, you get the convenience at a fraction of the true cost because you are spreading it out with everyone else.

If they only sold one corn dog a night,
it would cost a couple of hundred bucks.

But that logic breaks down at the games.  There both Shill and Mark think they’re going to put something over on the other.

No, strike that:
The Mark thinks he’s going to put one over,
the Shill knows he’s gonna take the Mark’s money.

And nothing wrong with that, right?
A Mark’s gotta dream, right?

‘Twas ever thus.

…and to quote Robert Heinlein, “Sure the game is rigged, but don’t let that bother you.  If you don’t bet you can’t win.”

…only when the game is rigged so it’s impossible to win under any circumstances, it’s no longer a game, no longer even a pretext of a game, it’s outright theft.

Oh, and which game strategies are the most profitable, and which are the least?

Carnies have learned[6] that if at least one person wins something in every round of game play, more people want to play.

The system is proven to “work” (even though a strict analysis would show the Shill faces virtually no risk and his outlays are the merest fraction of his income) , and they’ll play longer, so Game A is the clear choice.

The least profitable way?  The game of skill, because sooner or later the Marks begin to suspect it’s really not fair, that the odds have been rigged against them, and no matter how many pennies they pitch or rings they toss or evil clowns they shoot, they’re still not gonna get that great big prize on the top shelf.

So Game B is the hardest way to turn a dollar in a carny.
So much for the idea of meritocracy.

But what about Game C, the blatant outright scam?

Ahhh, there’s where things get interesting.
Game C, it turns out, is almost as profitable as Game A!

This would seem to be counter-intuitive but it’s not.
For one thing, the Shill is turning pure profit: 
There are no prize outlays to worry about.  If the Show is gonna be in town for a week or more, this might not be a good idea:  Sooner or later somebody compares notes, talks to the cops, trouble.

But if you’re just burning through in a single night,
if you’re never gonna see these Marks again,
why the hell not?

And the Marks keep playing because like every gambler, deep down inside they ignore the mathematical reality and know — just know! — that they are gonna win and not just win some measly lower tier prize no sir they’re gonna get wunna da great big gaudy ones from da top shelf!

What they get is bupkis.

With Game A the Marks see that at least somebody gets something to some small degree every time the game is played; they do not begrudge the Shill.  With Game B, however, they see a lot of effort rewarded rarely and never adequately.

In short, ya gotta work real, real hard to get something that always gets handed out with Game A…and the odds of a bigger payoff with Game A are better.

But Game C always dangles the big prize without ever really managing to hand anything out.  And the Marks keep layin’ their money down because they think they have a chance.

And the Shills play ‘em until there’s no money left for the rides or the corn dogs or the bearded lady.

Shills for Game C are not liked in the Show.  The other carnies know that sooner or later they will cause trouble for the Show, that if they had their way they’d spend the whole evening sucking dimes and quarters out of the Marks pockets and leave them with nothing to be spent on anything else.

The carny is a business.
They’re there to make a profit.

But there are ways of making a profit that help others in the business, and don’t burn out the Marks so they won’t come to the Show when it blows through town the next year…

…or even worse, won’t let them set up at all.

I bring all this up to illustrate a point about American politics.[7]

We have one type of politician who shills Game A.  They are in politics for their own personal benefit, but they realize they need to nurture the electorate.  There has to be at least the appearance of people receiving value for what they put in, and making sure that at least if everybody can’t have a taste, somebody gets a taste on a regular basis is a smart move to keep the Marks electorate happy and playing the game.

Another type of politician shills Game B.  Maybe they really believe that crap their own hype, maybe they are thoroughly cynical, but they are willing to let the Marks have a taste if the Marks do things exactly the way the politician says they have to be done.

Genuine Game B politicians are rare; they tend to migrate back and forth between Game A and Game C.

Game C politicians are the parasites.[8]   Unlike Game A politicians who see the need to cultivate the electorate not just for their own benefit but for the benefit of the Show at large (because without the Show, the Shills don’t have a job), Game C politicians seen their Marks electorate as expendables to be consumed.[9]

You will notice I have been scrupulous to not mention any politician or party by name.

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[1]  The specifics of the games vary; it’s the marketing strategy behind ‘em that we’re examining.  Indeed, the exact same game can often be played in any of the three modes described and some Shills will vary their strategy from town to town, night to night, even hour to hour depending on what they think they can get away with / be held accountable for.

[2]  Fast food restaurants will do this even one better:  The overwhelming bulk of their promotional contest prizes are coupons for a percentage off the next order or a free drink / side with the next purchase.  Since the coupon is never for more than the break even point for that item (and indeed, is often just a tiny sliver off the item’s true profitability), fast food chains can give away “free” food and drink all the time.

[3]  Because openly offering games of chance will get The Show shut down and the Shill thrown in jail.  You want to gamble on games of chance, go to Vegas.  Or an Indian reservation.  Or a 7-11.

[4]  At least from the Shill’s POV.

[5]  If the Shill thinks the Mark is going to bitch to the cops about losing several rounds in a row, he’ll ”bend the rules” and let the Mark select a consolation prize for having tried so long.  A prize from the bottom shelf.  Not one of the big ones from the top shelf.  And certainly not anything remotely approaching in value what the mark has shelled out.

[6]  The hard way…

[7]  Which doubtlessly applies to other countries as well, but hey, write about what ya know…

[8]  We’re using parasite in its strictest sense:  A predator that attaches itself to a host and they gets the host to alter its behavior to the host’s detriment so that the parasite may benefit.  They differ from symbiotes, which co-exist with their hosts and will often help the host in ways they benefit both partners.

[9]  Quite literally so in many cases.  Politicians who focus on a narrow shrinking demographic do so purely with their own short term benefit goals in mind, not the well being of the entire country.  They care only about exploiting their targets, not nurturing them in any sense.  “I got mine” is all they care about; everyone else can go fnck themselves.

mutantfunnies:

What’s Eating You? by Jordan Jeffries

Internet harassment has been a hot topic lately, and it should be. It’s an act that can severely hurt people, and should be prevented. Patricia Hernandez recently wrote an article highlighting some recent ridiculous nastiness, and took the opportunity to mock some of the perpetrators in a rather amusing and entertaining way.

It features a quiz full of horrendous comments made by fans of either Call of Duty, a very popular FPS which I’m sure you would have heard of, or One Direction, a British boy band aimed at girls in their early teens. The reader’s task is to pair each comment with its appropriate fandom.

I decided to port the quiz to Twine, with a few extra touches. First, the tone of the responses offered to the player grow increasingly wearisome, mirroring the exasperation I expect the player will feel as they progress through the often disgusting threats.

I also added some Call of Duty and One Direction facts, taken from fans of each product (and as such, I have no idea if they are true, or even what some of them MEAN). This was to further highlight how different the fandoms are, despite their hate being almost indistinguishable from each other. I also love random facts in my games, and I was hoping the goofy One Direction facts would help counter some of the putridness of the comments.

If you want to see the fan fury some people have to deal with (but in a sort of fun way!), you can play the game RIGHT HERE.

Mr Beckwith seems to have made the dialogue of Glengarry Glen Ross a little more age-appropriate, but there's nothing diluted about Charlotte's performance. Never seen the movie or play? You should!

Readers outside the USA! You know the new Bad Machinery book, The Case Of The Team Spirit, is on Amazon, right? You can get it on amazon.co.uk HERE - or check your local version.

thesquirtlesquad:

I read this as a kid and it had a really significant effect on me and and it’s a big influence on my world view and I still think it’s the most beautiful and profound thing anyone’s ever said about beauty

flusschen:

meanwhile in 1997 these cutting edge internet themed crayons were born

g

green.com

danielguerrerofernandez:

milkbbi:

me & daniel drew this togther in memory of MSN Messenger which was shut down yesterday after 14 years~ R.I.P. 1999-2013

Me and Justin Wallis drew this together and it got a lot of notes …. r.i.p msn 

I originally planned for this post to come much, much later; frankly, I needed time to figure out how to phrase some of the stuff in it so as not to cause any unintentional problems for third parties.

However, since my brother has contacted me and asked a question on what I believe re bigotry towards homosexuals, I’m going to answer him now.  Since he asked the question I will presume anyone who knows him who reads the following will realize it’s not about him or his / our family.

…..

I know a good, dedicated church going family; father is a minister, one of the brood of sons is a minister.  Good, decent, polite people.

Except…

The youngest son in the family is gay.  Has been all his life (he’s middle aged now).

All his life this younger brother has been hounded by his family:  Not viciously, not hatefully, but certainly relentlessly, remorselessly.

Why are you this way?

Why can’t you be straight?

Why do you insist on living a sinful lifestyle?

They have tormented the younger brother — all the while calling it “love” — his entire life…or rather, that part of his life when his sexual orientation has become known.

The family has done all the “right” things:
They sent the son to a therapist, they sent him to reparative therapy, they tried to “pray the gay away”, the mother and father beat themselves up emotionally over their “failure” to raise their youngest son righteously.

I’ve talked to the middle brother about this, the one who is a minister.  He feels sad and sorry for his younger brother.  He talks about how his brother has rebelled against his family, “embraced the homosexual lifestyle”, and now expresses anger and resentment whenever his parents or other family members “lovingly minister unto him” by telling him he is a sinner doomed to hell.

Fuck that shit.

…and, yeah, I know that offends some people’s delicate sensibilities.  Suck it up, buttercup; I’m one of those Christians who says “fuck” a lot…

…I’m coming back here after a break.  I had really built up a head of steam and was hurling Bible verses around (years of mandatory attendance at Southern Baptist Vacation Bible School finally paid off!) but I realize it’s pointless.

What would Jesus do?

Would Jesus tell a sobbing little boy that, yes, his parents are right, he is a filthy little sinner, he is a pervert, he is a sodomite, he is a pansy (even if in their passive-aggressive “love” they never used those terms openly) and that it’s his fault if he can’t “pray the gay away”…

…or would he tell the parents, “For the love of me, stop picking on the kid!  Just love him and accept him the same way I love and accept you”?

After years — decades!  A lifetime! – of calling others “pansies” and “perverts” and “godless sinners”, some people are shocked, surprised, and dismayed to hear themselves referred to as “hate-mongering bigots”.

This is photographer Bela Borsodi's cover for VLP's album Terrain. It's a single image of very carefully positioned objects seen at a very specific angle. Below, see a revealing photo and "making of" video.

Brogue

Cleaning room, finding ancient sketchbooks

store

A videogame about space bees. – [Author's description]

[Play Online]

Viewer discretion is advised. – [Author's description]

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TRI is a promising first person puzzle platformer where you create 3D triangles that act as platforms which allow you to walk on walls etc.