Unpopular Opinion: The Simpsons (and not Just the New Episodes) Kinda Suck

Because Disney bought Fox and because we have Disney+, a heretofore unobtainable vista (at least to cheap ol' me) has opened: The ability to watch all episodes of The Simpsons from start to finish.

I'm now in Season Nine, and I have to say:

The rose-colored glasses have fallen off, and The Simpsons kinda suck.

I mean, there are bright spots (Mr. Plow. Marge vs. The Monorail, Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song) but a lot of the storylines fall flat, some of the topics feel repetetive (how many times do we need to see The Simpsons dabble with religion, or witness Sideshow Bob try to kill Bart?).

Right now I'm watching Season Nine, Episode 16, "The Last Temptation of Krust," and wow, it's a stinker.

It might be blasphemous to early Simpsons adopters to hear this, but maybe some of the episodes in the later seasons are better? I'll keep watching and let the regular reader of this blog know.

In the meantime, I'll continue enjoying the little jokes and asides from the show that are actually better than entire episodes, viz:

The exercise hasn't been a total waste, as I've seen episodes I've never seen before. And this is where streaming comes in handy -- I haven't wasted hundreds of dollars buying DVDs of the episodes.

After all We Can Do

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

2 Nephi 25:23

One verse.

One verse from the Book of Mormon is all it took to reconcile the religion-oriented chiding present in Terry Pratchett's wonderful childrens' novel "Truckers" with the gospel of Christ.

To sum up: Gnomes from "Outside" find their way into the Arnold Bros. department store and find there a culture of other gnomes who worship the store (or at least Arnold Bros.) as their god. They bring with them The Thing, of which they have now knowlege, save that their ancestors said it was important.

The Thing (spoilers) turns out to be sort of a memory cube that tells the gnomes they came to Earth from outer space, and that their hardscrabble existence on Earth is due to some ancient error that severed their link with the mother ship, which is still in the solar system neighborhood.

It's a great story, to be sure. But they discover Arnold Bros. is to be demolished, thus ending the subsistence of the gnomes from both Inside and Outside. So they begin, with The Thing's help, to cook up a plan.

Then The Thing abandons them, thus:

If I'm understanding the implications here, The Thing represents not the god of Arnold Bros., but science and reason, since it is a thinking machine. The Thing "abandoning" them at this point is supposed to show that it's up to the gnomes to succeed, without intervening help, as they are more than clever animals.

Thus the citation from Nephi. God knows we are more than clever animals. We are to work out our own problems, seeking assistance not only from God, but from ourselves, our peers, our families, our friends, working as hard as we can to solve our problems and making decisions on what to do next.

We can ask God for assistance, but He is not going to tell us each step of the way what to do. That is left to us, our agency, and our faith that our decisions, based on our faith and hard work, will be the correct ones.

Move in *Closer* to the Kill Zone, Please

(Updated link)

Explosive eruption near the Black Diamond Pool at Yellowstone's Biscuit Basin.

[Prepares to kiss my bum goodbye.]

I live about 2 hours or so south of the park, right in the kill zone if this supervolcano ever goes critical:

The video linked above it pretty spectacular. The camera woman has a great idea at the beginning: RUN RUN RUN, but also does a magnificent job of keeping her camera steady and capturing the action.

A bit later in the video they're shown walking back through the destruction to the parking lot, something I don't think I would have done. The loop back to the highway is probably 2/3 of a mile, but it didn't go through the eruption zone, though it was shorter. I mean, who knew how stable the boardwalk would be after that eruption? I wouldn't have trusted it.

We were in the park a few weeks ago, but opted to go north instead of south and visited the Norris Geyser Basin.

The red here shows the Black Diamond Pool, near where it's believed the eruption occurred. The orange/yellow likely shows where the video was captured. The blue is the route I would have taken to get out of the area.

What Kind of Bird is This?

I don't think I've ever heard this bird call before. Wondering what it is.

And that crash about six or seven seconds in? That was Dottie, going down the stairs on her own because she was tired of waiting for assistance.

 

Conclusion Reached. Evidence to Come Later

Dazed, it seems, is living up to its name.

There's an attractive bit of writing there, under the title of "Why Don't Straight Men Read Novels."

I can't figure it out.

First of all, the writer (and likely the editors) decided they wanted to run novel-reading through the masculine tropes which proliferate on certain corners of the internet (they cite an anti-education screed by famed moron Andrew Tate as evidence of such) that if men are reading at all, it's non-fiction meant to improve their lives. (Why that's a bad thing, I don't really understand.)

They cite some evidence that women are the largest purchasers of fiction novels in the UK, US, and Canada. Conflating purchasing of books at the retail level with women being the only readers, I guess. Nevermind that people like me do most of their book purchasing on the used market.

But that doesn't fit the narrative.

And there may be some truth in the conflation, and some anecdotal proof that reading men are reading non-fiction over fiction. And based on my previous post, there are certainly some "uncomfortable truths and unexpected perspectives" that those who oppose Tate and his ilk and the "manosphere" are very uncomfortable with and would like to see "challenged" right out of existence.

Nor do they do what their headline suggests: They offer no evidence that gay men read more fiction than straight men, or that they read fiction at all. The article is here. I can find no reference to gay men, or homosexual men, in the article.

The thesis of the article in the headline is unsupported.

The thesis that men don't read fiction is supported marginally, but mostly anecdotally, and almost entirely by people who seem to have some kind of agenda or who want to conflate the useless "alpha male" movement with all males.

They also say this about the benefits of reading fiction: "reading fiction is the diametric opposite of the stale stoicism of the manosphere. It is a form of immersion therapy that demands you be present and forget yourself to a meditative end. You also become “part of a community,” which “helps you build mental companions as a bulwark against loneliness."

I've read plenty of nonfiction that has helped me become part of a community and helped me built mental companions as a bulwark against loneliness. Just because I'm reading about real things or real people -- you know, history and such -- doesn't mean I can't have those same feelings of community and mental companions.

Don't get me wrong: I love fiction. There's plenty of room, however, in my head for non-fiction as well.

I get the feeling, though, that I'm probably not reading the "right kind" of fiction (or non-fiction for that matter) to convince these others my argument is valid.

This is not journalism, it's tripe.

Food Makers, Just Stop

So, food makers.

Just stop.

Deep down in your marketing department, you know this is a gimmick. A gimmick meant to remind shoppers that in an oversaturated convenience food market, your products exist.

At 100 bottles, this will only be the briefest flash in a widely disparate and distracted pan of a market. Maybe you'll see a blip in sales as the curious, motivated by boredom and the vagaries of the Inernet, will buy and mix your sauces to reproduce the scarce, mediocre commodity.

I guess slap yourselves on the back as this maybe increases your share of the sauce market by razor-thin margins.

Just stop.

Sincerely,

A consumer whose wife and daughter fell in love with Dr. Pepper's Coconut Zero concoction before it was cruelly pulled from the market in the hopes people would continue buying their mass-produced drinks now that people remembered they were on the market.

This is How the Left Bans, uh, *Challenges* Books

So I read this on Facebook today:

I remember reading this book as a kid. It is, in fact, still on my bookshelf.

Note the start of the argument here to "challenge" the book (that's what the Left calls banning books). It wasn't written by a native author, and propagates stereotypes (nevermind that it challenged others).

That, to me, is fair criticism. But if people enjoy the book and, as this writer says, encourages them to read more on the culture, that's a gain.

Then there's this:

First the backhanded gallantry that the book would not have won the Newberry if it were published more recently. Because ooh ick it's written by a white man and brings up the ickiness of controversial treatment of natives and thus shouldn't be banned per se, but not used in the classroom in any official manner. Cloaked in the veil of "learning more about history," the book is best prefaced by some kind of official warning about how bad it is or just ignored, is what's implied here.

If you don't like the book, don't read it.

And if you don't want kids to like reading, spend your time finding perfect stories that were written by the right people at the right time and not use an imperfect book to set kids to thinking that, "Yeah, not everything in our history is neat and nifty."

This is how the Left bans books. I'm not a fan of any political movement telling me what I should or shouldn't read, or what should or shouldn't be read in schools.

I probably read books when I was a kid that would be on the naughty list today. But you know what, sitting next to those classroom bookshelves got me interested in reading, and now I read a lot and can discern for myself whether history is good or bad, and learn from it. The less we expose our children to the warts of life, the less they are likely to recognize the warts currently forming. We protect our kids at their own peril.

Stair Update

I know all of you were just waiting for this other shoe to drop: I have stained the stairs, meaning this project is officially finished.

I went with a clear stain, rather than the redwood stain, to show off the wood's grain. I really like it. To the point I wish I'd done the fence this way, but that clear stuff was kinda pricey so maybe doing it the way I did was best.

I also got a few spills cleaned up as well.

As a finishing touch, Michelle got us a new mat:

Dark Humorist: Charles Schulz?

This might be the darkest Peanuts comic strip I've ever seen.

There may be doubters, but this was published April 29, 1969, and appears in my Peanuts by the Decade book.

I know he didn't shy away from serious themes -- Charlie Brown's incessant depression, Lucy's many manias, Linus' foibles, Peppermint Patty's single parent family. But this is pretty dark for a compact daily strip, rather than a theme throughout his work.

 

Too Many Adults in the House

One thing I'm learning: I'm not sharing this house with kids; but I am sharing this house with two of my children who are adults and have appropriate adult interests.

I spent a good portion of my evening gutting my shed and moving my workbench into it. The workbench used to be in the garage, but it got moved out to make way for our youngest's growing pile of auto repair tools.

I will likely spend a good portion of the weekend putting up shelves in our oldest's room so he has more room to store his LEGO collection. (And since many adults collect and display LEGO, I disput the argument that this is an adolescent pursuit.)

Space is tight. I had argued that when our daughter -- bless her soul -- got married and move out we should convert her bedroom into some kind of hobby room, likely dominated by LEGOs. But I was rightly overruled as the room was cleaned and painted and turned into a guest room, which has been used by our daghter and her husband on a few occasions since they got married.

So the options are thus: I'm slowly removing contents from the shed so I can convert it into some kind of tiny workshop for me. Next to it we'll set up a carport that our youngest scavenege from a friend to store things and to be used as a workshop extension. I'm also getting rid of some old tools and bicycles which we're no longer using, along with a rusted out trailer I inherited from my brother.

All the while I'm wearing a carnation at my lapel so I don't look too industrial.

Restraint, not Reaction

Folks, can we just pause a moment?

Can we stop looking at what happened today and figuring out how it might be to our political advantage?

Can we put away the soap boxes and just think, even for a few moments, that maybe all the political rhetoric -- from many, many sides -- fomented what happened today?

Secretly cheering, openly cheering, chastising, berating, tsk-ing, braying, finger-pointing, fear-mongering and now beating the drums about what lessons should be learned . . . won't do us a lick of good.

What happened today is as egregious an attack on our nation's stability as, say, what happened on that January 6, that November 22, that June 17.

Can we pause for just a moment to consider that we could react in a way to what happened today to bring more stability, more fraternity, more lovingkindness . . . or in a way to bring more of the same shitstorm we've witnessed in the past several years and lead to something far, far worse down the line?

As its citizens go, goes the nation. Where do you want us to go?

Steamboat Geyser doing Steamboat Geyser Things

 I got to see Steamboat Geyser do a major eruption a few years ago, so it's always an exciting thing to go back to see what's up.

Way Too Late at the Movies: Incredibles 2

I think I remember seeing this movie shortly after it came out and thinking, "Yeah, the original was better."

Then I saw it among the offerings at Disney+ tonight and thought, "I don't remember much about it. I should give it another go, Or a go, because maybe I haven't seen this one."

Going to say it would be better unseen.

Simply put, it isn't a Brad Bird movie. Brad Bird likes message movies, but he doesn't sacrifice story or action for the message. The original Incredibles and other films of his, like the Iron Giant, keep the message but also keep the story moving briskly.

Incredibles 2 relied too much on the goodwill generated by the first movie and sacrificed the story as other stuff took center stage.

And why does the villain, Evelyn, look like whatsername from Megamind?

I'll be honest -- I was surprised to see Brad Bird wrote the story and directed the film. It seemed phoned in, not like his other stories.

It might have done better with tighter editing, because I'l be honest there were times it was boring. It's visually pleasing to look at, and Michael Giacchino's music is as good as it was in the first film. But the story dragged.

It feels like it suffered the same as Pirates of the Caribbean. The first movie in that series was excellent. But I gave up on the series when the best parts of the second film were retreads of funny bits from the first film.

The Incredibles didn't need a follow-up, or at least it certainly didn't need this one.

Update: OK, this is what bugs me: The villain's motivation is muddled. She wants the Supers to remain illegal because her father's Super-worship led to her patents' death. But as the Screen whatever, she chooses to go with the lame "you crave pap because you live your lives through it vicariously" which lends NOTHING to her anti-Super plot. She could have used her tech to destroy the Supers without the baggage of a message. It's the Indiana Jones Would Have Had No Impact on the Outcome to Raiders of the Lost Ark Had He Not Been There gambit.

Syndrome was a much better villain because his message was his sole motivation. He was also a much more interesting character.

It's A Lovely Shovel, Mother.

For the last several years, I've had a shovel with a broken scoop in the shed. I fully intended to use the handle in case the handle on another shovel broke.

A few weeks ago I broke a shovel handle while repairing the sprinklers.

Tonight the good shovel handle met the good scoop.

In other words, no one has talked or thought this much about shovels since the Eric Olthwaite Gang terrorized Edwardian era Denley Moor.

Hey Facebook, Do Better

This is the result of one of my many reports to Facebook of ads that send clickers to computer repair scam pages.

Facebook does not have its users best interests in mind; it is interested only in advertising revenue.

Facebook gave me the option to request another review. Clicking on that option brings up this pop-up, which just keeps looping me back to the same pop-up. So I clicked on "request review" a dozen or so times.

I'll probably be banned for abusing their ad reporting system.

The ads I've reported all took me to a website home to a software repair scam similar to the one Pleasant Green describes in this video.

Ha Ha, You Love Me

This is the kind of text a father wants to read over and over and over again. Because I look forward to those moments too.

Still Don't Know if I Like the Beard

Have officially lost count of how long it's been since I started growing the beard. I don't know if I like it. I do know I need to get things trimmed up and looking better than it is now, because right now, particularly with this hairdo, I look like a fat, unemployed Ronald Reagan.

This was me on Saturday when we went to Walmart and got a precious blank look from the cashier when my wife asked if he was going to card me because we bought superglue.

This week, I get a haircut. And probably a beard trim.

#DadBrokeTheStairs

Proof that Dottie refuses to use the new stairs.

I can't figure out why. They are a different color -- new redwood vs. weathered grey; they probably smell different too. But there is no way she's using these stairs. Because dad broke them.

WE HAVE STAIRS!

I'm calling the steps done. I mean, I need to sand and stain them. I should probably install some kind of railing as that's what code calls for. And while I have cleaned up most of the mess, there's still mess to deal with.

The dogs, however . . . I can talk Daisy into using them, especially if there's a bird or squirrel to deal with. Dottie, however, just stands inside the door not sure what to do because the STAIRS WERE GONE and now there are NEW STAIRS and it appears she doesn't know how to use them anymore. Maybe it's muscle memory playing big. Hoping that changes, as I'm tired of hauling them up and down the stairs. And finding their poop in the house because they're too scared of the new steps to poop while they're outside.

New Stairs Going In

So I sat there for about a half hour, with almost all of the supplies and materials for the steps, doubting what I was about to do. The old stairs were creaky and felt lopsided and I was sure the concrete they sat on wasn't level.

I'm still feeling like this about the project, but it's too late for doubts now:

I do have most of the "bones" in for the stairs, leaving just the treads and some weatherproofing to finish. I was going to do more tonight, but neighbors are barbecuing and want a peaceful evening before they blow up everything for the Fourth, so I'll wait until morning. It'll be cooler then anyway. Spent about $430 on materials and supplies, but I hope we'll get a good set of steps out of it all. I was glad to find the pre-cut step treads, as I was sweating bullets about having to make my own. They cost a total of $80, but their uniformity is worth the cost.

Update: I did slip out and do a little bit more because I figure my neighbors can put up with a little bit more construction noise since some of them will have me up past midnight with their fireworks.

So . . . Very . . . Tired

So when I visited the doctor last week for my annual physical, I complained a bit about occasional numbness shooting from my elbow up to my thumb. My doctor took some x-rays and determined I have some bone spurs where my tendons attach to my bones -- not a real surprise, as this arm has been giving me some kind of trouble or another for the past few years.

This year he decided to get a bit aggressive with treatment, and has put me on prednisone to combat the inflammation.

So far, I think it's helping my arm feel better.

But the side effects -- probably the worst I've ever had from a medication. They're not kidding when they say stomach upset and insomnia are a thing with prednisone. I think I've gotten about ten hours of good sleep in the last 48 hours, and the heartburn today has been something else.

But my arm feels better.

I need to hang on for four more days and I'll be done with the prednisone, so that's a good thing.

Just in time to cause more trauma to my arm by having to rebuild the stairs on the back of the house.

And yes, we did look at other things -- it's not heart-related; my EKG was normal this year. That was something I hadn't even thought of until he started going through the other symptoms of heart attack. Not a fun thing to think about.

But I do use that arm a lot; I am right handed, and have been doing a lot of digging and tinkering as I tried to repair our sprinkler system. That's done, thank heaven.

Getting old is hell.

I am losing weight, though, so that's a good thing. I'm not in danger of not being able to reach the control panels.

I WARNED YE!

So, it's to be king-men, then . . . 

Alma 51:3-5

But behold, Pahoran would not alter nor suffer the law to be altered; therefore, he did not hearken to those who had sent in their voices with their petitions concerning the altering of the law.

Therefore, those who were desirous that the law should be altered were angry with him, and desired that he should no longer be chief judge over the land; therefore there arose a warm dispute concerning the matter, but not unto bloodshed.

And it came to pass that those who were desirous that Pahoran should be dethroned from the judgment-seat were called king-men, for they were desirous that the law should be altered in a manner to overthrow the free government and to establish a king over the land.

Nixon wasn't above the law. And I think what Trump did, or allowed to happen, is worse than what Nixon did or what allowed to happen. The Supreme Court has lost its way.