Thread 20 - TalkLair: "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness; that is life"

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous Thread 19)

Britain swelters in yet another heatwave.

In the TalkLair, all the curtains are closed against the blazing sun as the denizens lurk like creatures of the night... or maybe we are creatures of the night. But rest assured, despite our scary fangs, the denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics. We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

And the other academic institutions that also appointed and promoted him, starting with John Moores University Liverpool, and pre-Cambridge ending with Durham. I mean, WHY is it so difficult to say that the emperor has no clothes?

I feel desperately sorry for his family. But the lying is 100% on him.

Agree with everyone. The blame is with all the people who put him in the blinding Righteous multimedia spotlight in the first place and all pretended the emperor’s clothes were glorious, just so they could bathe in the reflected glory of being Good Folk.

A few days ago I was saying to DH that I actually felt rather sorry for Arday, because he had clearly been terribly let down by those who should have educated, trained and mentored him. Who all clapped like seals at everything he did, instead of doing their duty in properly supporting him as a student and colleague. Beneath the glitzy surface he was probably floundering desperately for years.

His poor kids and family.

Very sad. I agree that he was elevated before he was thoroughly vetted, and although the recent storm about him must have been very tough on him, in the end it was his own lies that were the cause of it.

Thinking about it some more this morning, I don't doubt that the past few weeks must have been an utterly horrendous shock to him after so many years of unquestioning applause, and I also don't doubt that there would have been overwhelming media attention upon him. So in that sense I would say yes, we could definitely call that hounding.

But focusing the blame on the recent furore is like saying the vase wasn't broken when he threw it out of the window, it's all the fault of the pavement that hit it in the final millisecond.

Lake Balkhash, in Kazakhstan.

I've just been round to see my ex, as she messaged to let me know that, whilst having a clearout, she'd found some of my old stuff. We ended up having a good long chat, about people and events past and recent.

It turns out she's massively GC, but not well informed about "The Scene," so to speak. She and her current beau were at Seaton Delaval Hall (NT) in the spring and the toilet was completely unisex - they both walked into the same room. She just couldn't go and neither could he, so they left and found a pub. He felt awkward because of the women and said it didn't feel right.

I don't know if this has changed, but thanks to @KeepToiletsSafe, among other posters, I was able to explain why it's illegal.

She also reminded me of an incident in 1992 / 93, in the Forth Inn, in Newcastle. She went to the toilet and came flying out, attached to a tall transvestite, screaming, "It's a man! He had his fuckin' cock out!" We separated them and he was wailing about waiting for the operation - how little I knew then.

Anyway, she works in a care home and he's in there, he recognised her (she's a 59 year old, still flamboyant punk) and she was all, "Ooh no, Pet, that wouldn't have been me, I never act like that..."

She had 2 slate engravings of birds, which my dad gave me, I'm going to send him a picture, to see if he remembers; I can't believe she kept them for 30 years!

Nice that you're on decent terms, @SinnerBoy

Great videos of our time: I particularly like the ratio of cops to perp.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyll2p1r68o

I've been keeping out of the heat and also enjoying a lot of avoidance activity by watching LOOOONG drama series on the BBC iPlayer. This last week it has been The Capture, which is a sort of police/spooks crossover set in the UK. One of the stars is an American actor in his 70s called Ron Perlman, who is excellent in a very entertaining role, and I've been puzzling over what else I've seen him in, because he really looks and sounds very familiar.

Having checked IMdB and his Wiki page, the answer seems to be "absolutely nothing". This is frankly a little bit weird. Perhaps one of the joys of ageing is that you forget people you know and remember those you don't?

Ron Perlman is great! Most famous for Hellboy and Sons Of Anarchy. Sounds a sensible chap too, IIRC his SM posts. I've glanced at The Capture, but haven't dipped in. And I mostly watch foreign-language stuff on TV anyway. Does others sometimes feel that you've had more than enough American TV, American films, American fucking everything, to last a life-time? I sometimes do.

To be fair to The Capture, Ron Perlman plays the only significant (and half-competent) American character in it. And I'd recommend it, not only because he is so very entertaining but also because it is completely mad.

I like Ron Perlman. A good actor, and distinctive enough I can't possibly mix him up with any of the other characters. First saw him in Name of the Rose, I think.

Of course, The Name Of The Rose! I love that film!

Me too!

I'm applying for a job at my local council. This is on the form for equalities monitoring. What fresh hell is this, what a lot of gibberish

Gender
(Optional)
Man
Woman
Intersex
Non-binary
Prefer not to say
Prefer to use your own term

I never play ball with those any more, I just put 'prefer not to say' in every single field.

yeah honestly was tempted to do so. I was at my wit's end (wasn't a long trip by the way) filling in the form and double-checking and second-guessing the ginormous 'additional info' field so took the path of least resistance.

I have indicated on an official local government form that I have Man gender.

Fuck my life honestly, how have I come to this. I've betrayed every part of my Agender (gender is a non-biodegradable bag of dicks) belief system. They got to me!

I think "prefer not to say" is the answer that best accommodates the silent addition of "because it's a non-biodegradable bag of dicks".

I never know what to say. In my place of work, 'prefer not to say' is often attributed to (sometimes with a few 'possibly suggestive of...' ) TQ+s not wanting to expose themselves to transphobia, so it gives a ridiculously inflated possible percentage of the demographic. In one meeting, I said it could easily mean people didn't want to engage with this concept of gender, but the idea that we might find it relevant to ask about sex was roundly poohpoohed. I tend to tick woman because I don't want to inflate this figure, but then have to endure stats about cis-gendered etc

yeah @SqueakyDinosaur I fully agree.

I would happily answer Sex : Male / Female / Prefer not to say / Yes Please *

*(discard application unless applicant is Actual Rik Mayall)

They're going to inflate whatever they want to inflate to shore up whatever is the agenda du jour, no matter what I put.

So I just think "take your fake stats and shove them where the Sun Does Not Shine" and refuse to provide any data for any monitoring forms. Not just the gender bollocks, but age, race, everything.

All "Prefer not to say".