Weird - Random - Interesting

[Malcador]

49 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:

There isn't a time period in the past that you can reasonably argue was better.

 

[Skazz]

"I Wonder What's Inside Your Butthole" is the song of the summer

"For all its despairing, apocalyptic faults, 2020's been a pretty good year for music—we’ve heard killer albums from Fiona Apple, Pearl Jam, and Kesha, not to mention all the good tunes we’ve chronicled in A-Sides. That said, 2020's musical legacy might belong not to the hitmakers, but to their children.

First, the 4-year old daughter of English songwriter Tom Rosenthal gutted us with a tune about doomed, lovestruck dinosaurs, and now Jolee, the daughter of Lisa Rieffel, a member of L.A.’s H. Kink, is here with a song that, while much lighter in tone, is every bit as imaginative. It’s called “I Wonder What’s Inside Your Butthole,” and it is perfect."

[Raithe]

Okay, this did make me snicker a little.

https://imgur.com/gallery/JLfURra?

[rjshae]

^ Backyard barbeque cammies; you'll never see them coming when you light up that grill.

[rjshae]

Amid pandemic, U.S. renewable power sources have topped coal for 40 days

[Guard Dog]

Cops in Lethbridge Canada take down a woman in a stormtrooper costume for holding a toy blaster: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/stormtrooper-trying-get-customers-attention-taken-down-officers-canada-n1201696

She was advertising for a sci-fi themed restaurant. Sounds like the roughed her up a little to. Good thing is was Canada. In the US they would have beaten the absolute f--k out of her, as well as anyone who witnessed it after confiscating and smashing their phones. 

[Azdeus]

1 hour ago, Guard Dog said:

Cops in Lethbridge Canada take down a woman in a stormtrooper costume for holding a toy blaster: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/stormtrooper-trying-get-customers-attention-taken-down-officers-canada-n1201696

She was advertising for a sci-fi themed restaurant. Sounds like the roughed her up a little to. Good thing is was Canada. In the US they would have beaten the absolute f--k out of her, as well as anyone who witnessed it after confiscating and smashing their phones. 

Mother****ing retards. Not only the cops, but the people that called the cops on her. How utterly mother****ing clueless can you be?

[Lexx]

Dunno if they are clueless. Watched the video and to me it looks like they (police) wanted this to happen. Ofc they didn't want to be recorded, though.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Lexx

[Azdeus]

2 hours ago, Lexx said:

Dunno if they are clueless. Watched the video and to me it looks like they (police) wanted this to happen. Ofc they didn't want to be recorded, though.

I'm talking about the people that called the cops.

[Guard Dog]

Cops. Give someone authority over their fellow humans, a gun, and the sanction to use it and you create monsters. It takes a tremendous amount of self discipline and character to use that with restraint and apply it even handedly. Unfortunately those are not traits sought when police departments are interviewing candidates. 

[Amentep]

Most police departments that I am aware of have rigorous screening processes to screen out hotheads or people who want a license to be a thug.

The bigger problem (IMO) with police is the increasing fetishistic militarization going on in police departments combined with the traditional institutionalizing that the workforce endures (and also creates and fosters in itself in some cases) that develops an "us vs them" perception of police work.  This is furthered by the fact that most police don't live where they police, which helps to dehumanize the population where they do police.  And indeed it is also furthered by the fact that the collective common sense of humanity is lower than ever, as are critical thinking skills, which combine to make bad judgement de rigueur instead of anomalistic.

[Guard Dog]

34 minutes ago, Amentep said:

Most police departments that I am aware of have rigorous screening processes to screen out hotheads or people who want a license to be a thug.

The bigger problem (IMO) with police is the increasing fetishistic militarization going on in police departments combined with the traditional institutionalizing that the workforce endures (and also creates and fosters in itself in some cases) that develops an "us vs them" perception of police work.  This is furthered by the fact that most police don't live where they police, which helps to dehumanize the population where they do police.  And indeed it is also furthered by the fact that the collective common sense of humanity is lower than ever, as are critical thinking skills, which combine to make bad judgement de rigueur instead of anomalistic.

So in other words they are not monsters when they start but are turned into them over time. I could buy that. The saying "Power corrupts" has been around for a long time. But I think it's more likely that power attracts the corruptible. 

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, Guard Dog said:

So in other words they are not monsters when they start but are turned into them over time. I could buy that. The saying "Power corrupts" has been around for a long time. But I think it's more likely that power attracts the corruptible. 

I attended a pretty interesting community/police training seminar a few years back. It was pretty clear to me by the end that the training is the problem in law enforcement. The officers are just regular people. It isn't that they aren't trained enough, they put in a ton of hours, it is the heavy focus on the militarization aspect and little on the community service aspect. It definitely helps that in my specific community, most of the officers live where they work, contrary to the norm that Amentep mentioned.

[Malcador]

19 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

Cops in Lethbridge Canada take down a woman in a stormtrooper costume for holding a toy blaster: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/stormtrooper-trying-get-customers-attention-taken-down-officers-canada-n1201696

She was advertising for a sci-fi themed restaurant. Sounds like the roughed her up a little to. Good thing is was Canada. In the US they would have beaten the absolute f--k out of her, as well as anyone who witnessed it after confiscating and smashing their phones. 

Cops in Canada would have likely beaten her up as well, our soldatos in blue aren't that much better than the US.  And it is Alberta, people there forget what country they are in.  I guess it can be hard to train officers to use their brain a bit and assess a situation. 

[213374U]

1 hour ago, Hurlshot said:

I attended a pretty interesting community/police training seminar a few years back. It was pretty clear to me by the end that the training is the problem in law enforcement. The officers are just regular people. It isn't that they aren't trained enough, they put in a ton of hours, it is the heavy focus on the militarization aspect and little on the community service aspect. It definitely helps that in my specific community, most of the officers live where they work, contrary to the norm that Amentep mentioned.

There's no militarization of police around these parts. Plenty of cops are still little more than state-sanctioned thugs. The only difference is that there's a judicial review if they use their guns and the bar on proportionality regarding lethal force is higher. They'll still literally beat you and your mum up for talking back to them, and then give you a fine, because that they can get away with 99% of the time.

As you say, cops are just regular people. But without being held to the highest degree of scrutiny and accountability, the shortcomings of regular people tend to come to the surface rather unpleasantly. Clannish tendencies present in everyone manifest in the "blue shield" and a misunderstood sense of loyalty, which foment an environment that allows only for two kinds of cops: thugs and enablers.

Good luck raising the standards, too.

[Zoraptor]

4 hours ago, 213374U said:

There's no militarization of police around these parts.

Isn't the Guardia Civil a literal paramilitary force, complete with fasces?

Then again just about any overseas police force is paramilitary compared to here where they still don't regularly carry guns.

[213374U]

1 minute ago, Zoraptor said:

Isn't the Guardia Civil a literal paramilitary force, complete with fasces?

Then again just about any overseas police force is paramilitary compared to here where they still don't regularly carry guns.

Yep. Technically it's a military force that has extensive law enforcement purview. It depends on the MoD for personnel matters because they are officially military personnel with military ranks and pay grades. Officers come out of the same academy as those of the rest of the branches of the military. It's also the largest "police" force here and they have the most exclusive capacities nationally.

Technically really is the operative word though because they lack most of the things that you'd expect a proper military outfit to have such as heavy weapons of any kind, armored vehicles, military drills and so on. They are also laughably underfunded and consistently get the short end of the stick compared to other law enforcement organizations when it comes to even basic policing equipment. A regional command asked in 2019 to have their crappy 80's-era service rifles replaced -- they were handed a bunch of vintage 1964 battle rifles normally used for parades.

Cops carrying guns here is more a tradition than something necessitated by the job if you look at violent crime figures.

[Agiel]

In honour of V-E Day:

 

[Raithe]

TheGuardian - The Real Lord of the Flies ; What actually happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months on a deserted island

[213374U]

French pensioner ejected from fighter jet after accidentally grabbing bang seat* handle

[Gorth]

3 hours ago, 213374U said:

French pensioner ejected from fighter jet after accidentally grabbing bang seat* handle

The guy didn't really want to be in the plane in the first place. The plane obviously didn't want him there either

 

Yeah, can laugh a bit at it since nobody died. Want to bet, the guy got a retirement gift to remember?

[Gfted1]

8 hours ago, Gorth said:

Want to bet, the guy got a retirement gift to remember?

They gave him the badly soiled flight suit he was wearing?  

[Guard Dog]

Panicked over ‘murder hornets,’ people are killing native bees we desperately need

 

 

[Gorth]

How about a "Transformer" house?

 

Origami in action!

The amazing homes that build themselves

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-30318261

 

[Malcador]