Tuesday, September 30, 2025

"The End of Bias: a Beginning"

(The Science and Practice of Overcoming Unconscious Bias)

-by jessica nordell

2021

It would be redundant for me to explain this book, as the title and subtitle perform that task admirably. The book lives up to its billing, in the best of ways.

So instead i'll mention some memories the book stirred up.

A few years back, a possible romance were sparking between me and a charming, brilliant black poet. One night, she said she had things to teach me. I nodded, and said we had things to teach each other.

I wasn't wrong...but i wish i could have that moment back, so i could keep my fool white mouth shut. Neither the friendship nor romance proceeded.

Many years ago, i was speaking with a new theater acquaintance, and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. He looked at me witheringly, and said "don't do that". In the emotionless, patriarchal world into which i was born, any expression of affection between males had to be couched in mockery or pretend violence.

As an adult, i almost never engage in shame or regret...almost.

The depth to which biases are baked into us by the time we're teens...well, i'll let the book speak for itself. Go find it.

Friday, September 26, 2025

"Rocketman"

-2019

This elton john biopic is my nominee for worst movie of the 21st century.

It should only be shown with this caveat stamped to the screen: "Any resemblance between this film and elton's life, is entirely accidental".

Mind you, i don't see a lot of new movies. But it's hard to imagine any cinematic turd more appalling. This film is an object lesson in why you should NEVER let your subject be one of the film's producers. The most egregious act of masturbatory self-adulation to ever (dis)grace the screen?

All the flaws of the film are encapsulated in the casting of the lead. Taron egerton is seven kinds of talented, but no skill can mask the fact that he is a Hollywood hunk.

Elton darling, i adore you, but you were never a hunk. You were a short, unathletic nerd. And i LOVE the idea of making nerds sexy...but this ain't the way to do it.

Instead of using your influence to fight beautyism, you capitulated to it, in the worst possible way.

Somewhere out there, is a great movie about the life of elton john. It just hasn't been made.

Though actually, maybe the freddie mercury pic was worse...

Monday, September 22, 2025

Seldom

wrob's music videos

A list - greatest concert ever

B list - specialty occasions

C list - oblivion

I really love where the music goes on this...so sad it didn't have the juice to be a keeper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqslYdxCbd8

Thursday, September 18, 2025

not-ends 39

So there are two Beatles and two Monkees still alive...hello?? Supergroup???

In any city or town, what are the three most numerous buildings? Bars, churches, and beauty salons. Once you realize that our culture's three most sacred cows are superstition, vanity, and reality-escape, everything else suddenly makes sense.

Coolest name ever for a lesbian bar? Shelixir.

My biggest issue with the psychiatric profession is this - the notion that most people's problems are in their head is patently untrue (and there are choice words for those who profit through deception). If we want to seriously deal with the problems we face, we should start getting our therapeutic counseling from sociologists, not psychologists.

In schools for the deaf, how do substitute teachers get the students to stop talking?

If you ever wonder why some men seem to get morbidly lost in guilt over what history has done to wimyn, it's not abstract feminist outrage - these men are mourning the fact that wimyn have been so damaged, there is almost zero likelihood that any of us will ever have a healthy sexual relationship. We're not just mourning for wimyn, we're mourning for ourselves.

Every day a million people call in sick, but no one calls in healthy. I called in healthy sixteen years ago, and they haven't seen me since.

The biggest misconception about evolution is that it's an upward process. It's not. It's only forward.

Wouldn't it be funny if conservatives succeeded in getting full citizenship rights for fetuses, and then liberals succeeded in getting welfare funding for being pregnant?

I've never understood why wimyn put up with men. I am dead earnest. Men...are...odious. And don't get me wrong, wimyn are...fucked up. But even the best of men, are a bit odious. There are almost no odious wimyn...and the only ones who are, are trying to be like men.

I predict that within another century or three of humyn evolution, the entire process of menstruation will take about seven minutes. From the first stirrings of PMS to the final drop, seven minutes. And by the time that happens, humynity will be so feminine-positive that most wimyn in northern climates will go for a pantsless walk in the snow whenever they feel menstruation coming, so they can shed their uterine linings in a beautiful red spray against a white background. Seeing the spot, passersby will smile, knowing a powerful womyn was there.

Sunday, September 14, 2025

What She Needs

wrob's music videos

A list - greatest concert ever

B list - specialty occasions

C list - oblivion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMgpON3yJJg

Sunday, September 7, 2025

not-ends 41

"It is those who have the least, who give the most." The first step in understanding the truth of these words is to go to the town square, put out a hat, and start playing songs.

Science has finally discovered why wimyn live longer than men - apparently there are far more wives curious about being widows than previously assumed.

Psychiatric therapy makes people normal...but that was the problem in the first place.

Best contradiction-in-terms ever? Business ethics.

Has it never occurred to anti-abortion advocates that if they had devoted all their resources to research making contraception cheap, non-bothersome, and foolproof, the problem would already be over?

Say the word "bible" slowly over and over, putting a break between the syllables. So often, we miss the truth that's been staring at us all along.

I find prostitution abhorrent...but if i'm ever rich, i'm going to keep $10,000 in my pocket, so i can tell a stranger that i'll give her all the money on me if i can stick my tongue in one of her holes - her choice of hole. Considering the gender wage gap, i'll be able to write it off as charity, too.

Why do we have the word "manhandle", but not "womynhandle"? What would that even mean? Isn't it time we found out?

The only time i mind the strange looks i get for being a feminist, is when that look comes from a womyn.

Science has long sought to understand what makes humyns unique, not grasping the flaw in that premise. But perhaps there IS one singularly humyn quality - we are the only creatures able to blind ourselves to not just the pain of others, but our own as well.

The only movie that told the truth about love? "King Kong".

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

F&ckstruck

wrob's music videos

A list - greatest concert ever

B list - specialty occasions

C list - oblivion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jugc0NjaNM