Sound *on*:
you are now having a good day, you're welcome pic.twitter.com/ppfUpAozax
— Commonwealth of Emergency (@BitchWithA_W) July 7, 2020
Bonus ‘Age hath its privileges’…
Thirteen-year-old Tiger the cat joins the livestream of Canterbury Cathedral's morning prayers and drinks milk that was meant for the Dean pic.twitter.com/DOxNP9vzGy
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 10, 2020
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
The problem TikTok is that it’s owned a Chinese billionaire and it has ties to the PRC military.
Also, TikTok censors content critical of the PRC:
Revealed: how TikTok censors videos that do not please Beijin
TikTok’s local moderation guidelines ban pro-LGBT content: Chinese-owned social media app bans such content even in countries where homosexuality has never been illegal
It greatly disturbs me that TikTok has becomeĀ theĀ media platform for Gen Z.
Anybody who says the new competition between the the PRC and the US isn’t ideological is wrong. The CCP want to impose their authoritarian values on us
Emma from FL
I think I want to put that cat video on a loop. Instant nirvana.
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Respite! We don’t want to think!
Yutsano
Tiger is my new spirit.
I had TikTok on my phone for exactly three days. It was so annoying with its suggestions. Plus I found it impossible to navigate. Y’all have fun with your Chinese spy app.
zhena gogolia
Oh, I love both those tweets. The cat is so polite before he starts licking the milk off his paws. Christ would approve.
Yutsano
@zhena gogolia:Ā I showed the tweet to a British friend. He found it adorable.
zhena gogolia
@Yutsano:
I just sent it to my minister, who unfortunately is leaving us at the end of the summer. I will miss sending her BJ links.
pamelabrown53
@Emma from FL:
Well, I really did enjoy the video but prefer it sans Celine Dionne! Muted it.
cain
I don’t know what to say about Ann Coulter throwing McConnell under the bus and supporting his Democratic challenger..
https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/1281688979411271686
Baud
@Yutsano:
Never had the app. I just wait for the good stuff to filter to Twitter and from there to Balloon Juice.
zhena gogolia
@pamelabrown53:
I don’t think that was her. It sounded like a different language at first. I’m not a fan of hers, but she has a better voice than that.
debbie
I’d have loved to see the cat’s face after the fan was turned off.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@zhena gogolia:
Sorry! Just felt it had to be said, though. TikTok ain’t our friend. It sucks that the Trump admin has proposed to ban it, because they don’t have any credibility. After all, teenagers on TikTok ruined his Tulsa rally, so this smacks of revenge.
In reality, I do think TikTok should be banned, because it presents a legitimate national security risk imo
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Me too. I can’t keep track of apps. And trying to stay pure on the internet is a mug’s game.
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I was kidding, not really chastising you. I’m sure you’re right.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
@Yutsano:
I really miss Vine. It was a lot of fun
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@zhena gogolia:
Don’t worry, I know : )
SiubhanDuinne
Iāve watched the Deanās cat about 20 times over the last couple of days.
Love the way Tiger saunters in with his Canterbury Tail held erect.
CarolPW
@Yutsano: WaPo has a piece on Goya and link to Eric Rivera’s site (Seattle-based) selling sazon, spicy sazon and saffron sazon.
Leto
Sara Cooper- How to cognitive
VeniceRiley
I’m sure the kids will be delighted that their parents are not on tik tok. They tend to flee a platform once the olds arrive.
Baud
@Leto: That’s a good one.
zhena gogolia
@Leto:
The tidbit I take from that is that they gave Trump a cognitive test at Walter Reed. Was that when he had that stroke?
piratedan
@cain: my understanding is that this is driven by an internal GOP feud.Ā Coulter is backing Kris Kobach in the KS Senate race and McConnell is throwing GOP money at his primary opponent (supposedly because Kobach doesn’t play as well to the overall KS electorate).Ā So… this is Coulter’s response, GOP purity party warfare… enjoy your popcorn.
Leto
@zhena gogolia: Yes, but he did a call on Whitehood and Friends where he was bragging about taking a cognitive test, when I think they reserve cognitive tests for people with suspected brain injuries. They also released the test and it was basically, can you identify an elephant? Good! Here’s a cookie! Just, totally non-praiseworthy things.
Adam L Silverman
It’s Spyware.
debbie
@Leto:
Dread
Communism…. you’re doing it wrong, China.
Feathers
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): and fat people, minorities, and other undesirables. They can make videos, but the algorithm wonāt promote them for others to see them.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Gin & Tonic
Respite? Here’s Leonard Cohen’sĀ Dance Me to the End of Love in Polish.
Hungry Joe
I hadnāt heard but a few minutes of Trumpās voice in at least a couple of years ā- I instantly snap off any device thatās transmitting it ā but now, via Sara Cooper, I hear it A LOT. Itās gotten so that I can even tolerate it without Sara Cooper simply by channeling her and imagining how she might perform it. I owe her so much.
trollhattan
Fan cat is a fan slut! Smart kitteh.
Today is 21 years exactly since USWNT versus PRC in the Rose Bowl World Cup finals.
https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/1281587012475248640
Also a year and a couple days ago the kiddo met Brandi Chastain on her flight to SFO from Europe, where she (Brandi, not my kid) had been to the French WWC and run some soccer clinics, explaining the giant netfull of soccer balls Brandi picked up from the luggage carousel. Even jet-lagged she was happy to meet and pose with a gaggle of teen girls. She’s good people.
Delk
@Adam L Silverman: they rescinded that order five hours later.
zhena gogolia
This guy doesn’t get as much play as Sarah Cooper, but I think he’s brilliant.
Yutsano
@Dread: Oh you have to LOVE the justification Deng Xiaoping came up with. When they started to advance a more capitalstic economy, Deng said that China can’t become truly Communist until it had gotten through late-stage capitalism. So he let off the brakes on some private ownership and foreign investment. And thus China went from poor agriculture state to economic powerhouse. And Deng got rich.
zhena gogolia
@Yutsano:
I think he was taking a leaf out of Vladimir Ilich’s book.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Plenty of companies have similar ties, like Zoom and Grindr, but nobody gets themselves too worked up about those. idk
ETA somebody decompiled it a while back (I think) and their report went viral. TLDR, yes lots of spyware-seeming data flying aroundābut no more so than lots of other apps.
Major Major Major Major
@Yutsano:
There were also the hundreds of millions lifted out of horrible poverty…
Dread
@Yutsano: “Brothers and sisters, we have finally overthrown the horrible capitalist oppressors. Now let us all celebrate the installation of new capitalist oppressors!”
And so it goes…
š¾BillinGlendaleCA
@Dread: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman: The BBC is saying that notice from Amazon’s management was sent “in error”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53370736
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ken
@Delk: Or at least, an email that appeared to rescind it came from Amazon IT.
Another Scott
@Ken: rofl.
Obligatory – https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2015:_New_Phone_Thread
Cheers,
Scott.
Bex
@SiubhanDuinne: Tiger probably knew the late Laptop who was also a cathedral cat.
Rand Careaga
Since weāre open threading, take a look at whatās going on in Tucker Carlsonās writers stable.
villiageidiocy
@Gin & Tonic:
The performers do a great job at amplifying the song’s natural oompa structure. Similarly to Tom Waits, I like Cohen, but some interpreters manage to add a musicality not initially, shall we say, obvious?
I like this version of Dance me to the End of Love by M Peyroux
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
As long as you don’t question the Party/state or are an undesirable
Jay
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
Those should be looked at as well. TikTok, however, is more dangerous imo because of it’s ability to influence our culture and politics. It’s a tool to not only spy but an attempt to influence geopolitics.
TikTok also censors LGBT and other content that the PRC deems undesirable
Jay
@villiageidiocy:
have you ever heard her in public. Her voice is an instrument. Ā Saw her live at Richards on Richards, no mike, and she absolutely filled the space with her voice and tones I have never heard before.
Leto
Because the other thread is non-political: Trumpov just commuted Stoneās sentence. Motherfucker.
villiageidiocy
@Jay: Aw no! I have not! I discovered her from that particular album. She’s obviously got a good sense of structure and how to play with it. I mean, rhythmically alone she’s impressive. She’s the sort I enjoy listening to repeatedly to see how she chooses her place and interpretation in the song – I don’t really know how to describe it any better than that – my formal music education ended at 14. (Wait, there was the year and a half of piano at 16 . . .)
I do like her voice – but what can you know from recordings anymore? In person would be better, I think!
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: Look, it’s the Minister’s Cat! : )
Somehow I find myself reminded of the British guy in South Korea who had his adorable kiddos (and his poor frazzled wife!) Zoom-bomb his interview with the BBC
@Leto: Jesus Christ, how do each of these just get funnier every time?
Leto
@Miss Bianca: sheās a genius. Check out some of her YouTube standup routines. Soooo funny! Eternally glad weāve found her, hate that it had to be under these circumstances.
Oklahomo
How funny — I have a cat named Tigger who is this cat’s doppelganger.