The Measure of a Man. A solid 50 minutes of mostly talking at desks. 💯

I used to think a bit more along those kind of nihilistic lines of “there’s no justice in the universe”. But that means that any justice that does exist, is the justice that we have imposed on it. And that’s pretty powerful.

The other criticism I’ve seen levelled against them is that they fire almost everyone who works at a company they acquire to run it bare bones.

It’s much, much more complicated than mere rehabilitation VS punishment/salvation. When sometime goes to prison for a minor drug offense—like this guy—what exactly are we “rehabilitating”? I seriously doubt he had a real addiction.

Perhaps for you. For this section of society I’m referring to, they would rather see this person put before their deity in order for ultimate judgement to be rendered.

In medieval England, executions were, as History says, conducted willy-nilly without any legal precedent. Starting with the reign of Henry VIII in the early 1500s, the death penalty became codified into an eventual, expansive 222 crimes. Some 72,000 people were executed in 16th century England alone for crimes such as treason, marrying a Jew, cutting down a tree, and (you ready?) not confessing to a crime.

https://www.grunge.com/305837/which-crimes-merit-the-death-penalty-in-the-united-states/

A lot of people would like to go back to these times.

Foucault’s Discipline and Punish is a rather interesting read. It suggests that cruelty and suffering are the point of prisons for certain parts of society. For them, it is the prisoner who sinned and they must atone for what they did so they can get salvation, in this life or the next. Regardless of the evidence to the contrary that it doesn’t really work and that rehabilitation is much more cost effective.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MenAndFemales/comments/11x0pj4/ladies_and_gentlemen_gary_gygax_cocreator_of/

🤷

I knew someone who didn’t see the point of wearing any, yet they had a noticeable “funk”. Turned out they’re anosmic.

The current White House Press Secretary, at the moment of writing.

The article in question points out this is more a center for international things, so one can assume that this is funded by the American branch.

Unfortunately the UK Census doesn’t split the major religions into its various sects, so it’s not that easy to judge how many Mormons are in the UK, the last number I can see is around 140,000. Which isn’t really a lot.

There’s an interesting piece on the BBC about this training centre in Preston: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64790111

Pray tell, whomst among us cannot say that they haven’t accidentally launched around 13 drones at territory of a rival major defence pact? Do they contain a payload or not? I forgot, my memory is so terrible.

So instead, here’s a 2019 NIH Study: […]

That study long predates the current fascist crackdown on migrants.

I’m not making any argument, I’m simply correcting your misinformation with relevant scientific studies from the NIH.

You think migrants (and minority groups) being afraid to interact with law enforcement started after 2019?

I’m suddenly reminded of this quote:

“Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.”

– Douglas Adams in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Originally it was something like Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements.

I think this is a bit of a backronym, as it refers more to “import” vehicles from Japan.

Would you say you were… out of the loops? 🌞 😎

More activity here https://bsky.app/profile/pizzacakecomic.bsky.social

That reminds me…

Way back when I was just a little bitty boy Living in a box under the stairs in the corner of the basement of the house Half a block down the street from Jerry’s Bait Shop You know the place Well, anyway, back then life was going swell and everything was just peachy

Except, of course, for the undeniable fact that every single morning My mother would make me a big ol’ bowl of sauerkraut for breakfast

Daww, big bowl of sauerkraut Every single mornin’ It was driving me crazy

I said to my mom I said, “Hey, mom, what’s up with all the sauerkraut?” And my dear, sweet mother She just looked at me like a cow looks at an oncoming train And she leaned right down next to me And she said, “It’s good for you” And then she tied me to the wall and stuck a funnel in my mouth And force fed me nothing but sauerkraut until I was twenty six and a half years old

That’s when I swore that someday Someday I would get outta that basement and travel to a magical, far away place Where the sun is always shining and the air smells like warm root beer And the towels are oh so fluffy Where the shriners and the lepers play their ukuleles all day long And anyone on the street will gladly shave your back for a nickel Wacka-wacka-doo-doo, yeah

Well, let me tell you, people, it wasn’t long at all before my dream came true Because the very next day, a local radio station had this contest To see who could correctly guess the number of molecules in Leonard Nimoy’s butt I was off by three, but I still won the grand prize That’s right, a first class one-way ticket

To Albuquerque, Albuquerque

Oh yeah You know, I’d never been on a real airplane before And I gotta tell ya, it was really great Except that I had to sit between two large Albanian women with excruciatingly severe body odor And the little kid in back of me kept throwin’ up the whole time The flight attendants ran out of Dr. Pepper and salted peanuts And the in-flight movie was Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore And, oh yeah, three of the airplane engines burned out And we went into a tailspin and crashed into a hillside And the plane exploded in a giant fireball and everybody died Except for me You know why? 'Cause I had my tray table up And my seat back in the full upright position Had my tray table up And my seat back in the full upright position Had my tray table up And my seat back in the full upright position

So I crawled from the twisted, burnin’ wreckage I crawled on my hands and knees for three full days Draggin’ along my big leather suitcase and my garment bag And my tenor saxophone and my twelve-pound bowling ball And my lucky, lucky autographed glow-in-the-dark snorkel But finally I arrived at the world famous Albuquerque Holiday Inn Where the towels are oh so fluffy And you can eat your soup right out of the ashtrays if you wanna It’s okay, they’re clean

Well, I checked into my room and I turned down the A/C And I turned on the SpectraVision And I’m just about to eat that little chocolate mint on my pillow That I love so very, very much when suddenly, there’s a knock on the door Well now, who could that be? I say, “Who is it?” No answer “Who is it?” There’s no answer “Who is it?” They’re not sayin’ anything

So, finally I go over and I open the door and just as I suspected It’s some big fat hermaphrodite with a Flock of Seagulls haircut and only one nostril Oh man, I hate it when I’m right So anyway, he bursts into my room and he grabs my lucky snorkel And I’m like, “Hey, you can’t have that That snorkel’s been just like a snorkel to me” And he’s like, “Tough” And I’m like, “Give it” And he’s like, “Make me” And I’m like, “'kay” So I grabbed his leg and he grabbed my esophagus And I bit off his ear and he chewed off my eyebrows And I took out his appendix and he gave me a colonic irrigation Yes, indeed, you better believe it And somehow in the middle of it all, the phone got knocked off the hook And twenty seconds later, I heard a familiar voice And you know what it said? I’ll tell you what it said

It said “If you’d like to make a call, please hang up and try again If you need help, hang up and then dial your operator If you’d like to make a call, please hang up and try again If you need help, hang up and then dial your operator”

In Albuquerque, Albuquerque

Well, to cut a long story short, he got away with my snorkel But I made a solemn vow right then and there that I would not rest I would not sleep for an instant until the one-nostrilled man was brought to justice But first, I decided to buy some donuts

So I got in my car and I drove over to the donut shop And I walked on up to the guy behind the counter And he says, “Yeah, what do ya want?” I said, “You got any glazed donuts?” He said, “No, we’re outta glazed donuts” I said, “You got any jelly donuts?” He said, “No, we’re outta jelly donuts” I said, “You got any Bavarian cream-filled donuts?” He said, “No, we’re outta Bavarian cream-filled donuts” I said, “You got any cinnamon rolls?” He said, “No, we’re outta cinnamon rolls” I said, “You got any apple fritters?” He said, “No, we’re outta apple fritters” I said, “You got any bear claws?” He said, "Wait a minute, I’ll go check

“No, we’re outta bear claws” I said, “Well, in that case - in that case, what do you have?” He says, “All I got right now is this box of one dozen starving, crazed weasels” I said, “Okay, I’ll take that”

So he hands me the box and I open up the lid and the weasels jump out And they immediately latch onto my face and start bitin’ me all over Oh man, they were just going nuts They were tearin’ me apart You know, I think it was just about that time that a little ditty started goin’ through my head I believe it went a little something like this

Doh Get 'em off me Get 'em off me No, get 'em off, get 'em off Oh, oh God, oh God Oh, get 'em off me Oh, oh God

I ran out into the street with these flesh-eating weasels all over my face Wavin’ my arms all around and just runnin’, runnin’, runnin’ Like a constipated wiener dog And as luck would have it, that’s exactly when I ran into the girl of my dreams Her name was Zelda She was a calligraphy enthusiast with a slight overbite and hair the color of strained peaches I’ll never forget the very first thing she said to me She said, “Hey, you’ve got weasels on your face”

That’s when I knew it was true love We were inseparable after that Aw, we ate together, we bathed together We even shared the same piece of mint-flavored dental floss The world was our burrito So we got married and we bought us a house And had two beautiful children - Nathaniel and Superfly Oh, we were so very, very, very happy, aw yeah

But then one fateful night, Zelda said to me She said, “Sweetie pumpkin? Do you wanna join the Columbia Record Club?” I said, “Whoa, hold on now, baby, I’m just not ready for that kind of a commitment” So we broke up and I never saw her again But that’s just the way things go

In Albuquerque Albuquerque

Anyway, things really started lookin’ up for me Because about a week later, I finally achieved my lifelong dream That’s right, I got me a part-time job at The Sizzler I even made employee of the month after I put out that grease fire with my face Aw yeah, everybody was pretty jealous of me after that I was gettin’ a lot of attitude

Okay, like one time, I was out in the parking lot Tryin’ to remove my excess earwax with a golf pencil When I see this guy Marty tryin’ to carry a big ol’ sofa up the stairs all by himself So I, I say to him, I say, “Hey, you want me to help you with that?” And Marty, he just rolls his eyes and goes “No, I want you to cut off my arms and legs with a chainsaw”

So I did

And then he gets all indignant on me He’s like, “Hey man, I was just being sarcastic” Well, that’s just great How was I supposed to know that? I’m not a mind reader for cryin’ out loud Besides, now he’s got a really cute nickname: “Torso-Boy” So what’s he complaining about?

Say, that reminds me of another amusing anecdote This guy comes up to me on the street and he tells me he hasn’t had a bite in three days Well, I knew what he meant But just to be funny, I took a big bite out of his jugular vein And he’s yellin’ and screamin’ and bleeding all over And I’m like, “Hey, come on, don’tcha get it?” But he just keeps rolling around on the sidewalk, bleeding, and screaming You know, just completely missing the irony of the whole situation Man, some people just can’t take a joke, you know?

Anyway, um, um, where was I? Kinda lost my train of thought

Uh, well, uh, okay Anyway I, I know it’s kinda been a roundabout way of saying it But I guess the whole point I’m tryin’ to make here is:

I Hate Sauerkraut

That’s all I’m really tryin’ to say And, by the way, if one day you happen to wake up And find yourself in an existential quandary​ Full of loathing and self-doubt And wracked with the pain and isolation of your pitiful meaningless existence At least you can take a small bit of comfort in knowing that Somewhere out there in this crazy old mixed-up universe of ours There’s still a little place called

Albuquerque

Ah, you’re going for the Pete Townshend defence…

A certain Mr Peel had some ideas about policing, namely that it needs to be by consent of the population.