Schismatics

Avoiding spoilers is a pretty tough job for a comics fan, particularly when you have a significant interest in the X-titles.  I've known about the basic idea for Schism -  this year's major X-event - for months now, at least in broad strokes: the embattled, besieged-every-other-Friday Utopia community splits in half over how to survive in the post-mutant world.

Boxing Stupid

Whilst I was at large in Eastern Europe, my old friend Rigor Mortified (a veterinary nurse) told me a story that was just too funny not to steal, especially given this blog's unflinching pro-dog standpoint.

On one fateful day, RM is late into her shift when a large Geordie man enters her field of vision carrying a shoe-box.
"Weeya tak a luke at me puppy, like?" he asks.
"What?" responds RM.
"Me puppy.  Weeya tak a luke?" says the man, holding out the box.
"Um... OK" RM says slowly, eyeing the box with suspicion.  "What's wrong with your puppy?"
"It dinna eat," the man says. "An' dinna play. Willna gan fer a walk.  Two hundred quid ah paid fer this puppy. Pure breed, ah gat told."
"Right", says RM.  "A pure breed what?"
"A pure breed puppy," the man insists. "Rottweiler."
By now RM is thoroughly doubtful.  "You have a rottweiler puppy?"
"Aye."
"That cost two hundred quid?"
"Aye."
"In that rather small shoebox?"
"Aye, pet."
This, needless to say, is not good news.  Whatever else might be wrong with this poor creature, the fact it can fit into such a small space is clearly cause for concern in itself.  Not entirely sure she wants to see what pathetic creature awaits her within, RM takes the box gingerly, and opens the lid.

A Tale Of Cocktails #21

After Six

Ingredients

1 oz Kahlua

1/2 oz Creme de Menthe

1 tbsp Baileys Irish Cream

Taste: 9
Look: 7

Cost: 7

Name: 4

Prep: 7

Alcohol: 5

Overall:  7.1
.

Preparation: Chill all ingredients.  Pour Creme de Menthe into shot glass. Pour in Kahlua over teaspoon to create separate layers.  Float Baileys on top.

General Comments: This is more commonly known as an After Five, but I'm not a big fan of peppermint Schnapps, so we've swapped it out and replaced it with Creme de Menthe.  This has obviously given this cocktail +1 awesome, hence the new name.

Having said that, I'm not at all happy about the name in the first place.  Sure, it's cheekily reminiscent of an After Eight, but it also implies that I can't drink this cocktail any earlier than late afternoon.  You're not the boss of me, cocktail mixers!

Taste-wise, this is absolutely lovely - it really is deeply reminiscent of an After Eight mint, and as much as I loved the milkshake iteration of that particular delight, this version definitely has it beat.  It looks pretty good, too, even if it's slightly reminiscent of a tiny Guinness with a splash of Fairy Liquid.

Let's Leave Hitler Alone

Spoilers...

Ovi-tunities

So Steve Benen is grouchy because Ohio schools can't afford lawnmowers any more and have to borrow sheep instead.  He's all:

[N]othing says “21st century global superpower” like schools turning to sheep because they can’t afford lawnmowers. 

I say that's some damn short-sighted thinking!  It's only a few short steps from this:

to this:

or this:

or, if we're prepared to take the idea of replacing mechines with sheep to its logical conclusion, this:

If that isn't what the future looks like, then the future can fuck right off.

Caption Competition!

Because sometimes, even I run out of words.

Presumption

Having talked at length both here and over at Geekplanet about the DSK arrest and the subsequent collapse of the case, and having done so entirely from the position that there was a horrible undercurrent of sexism and/or classism (if that's a word) about a lot of the so-called "defences" offered up for the man, I should note that one can go too far in the other direction.

To be clear, Hadley Freeman certainly has more than one very good point here. In terms of public opinion, there was a marked tendency to defend DSK by attacking Diallo, and whilst that might not necessarily be out of bounds per se, the nature of the attacks was frequently pretty awful. Moreover, Freeman is entirely correct to point out that anyone without expert experience who tries to argue that a woman is behaving in a way that is incompatible with the trauma suffered after a sexual abuse is a dangerous idiot.

But all of that is a separate issue to the fact that, as Freeman mentions, the Manhattan DA decided to drop the case. The court of public opinion has reacted disgracefully in this situation. The legal system, so far as I can tell, has worked exactly as it's supposed to. Freeman's arguments that all the questions over the plaintiff's honesty and reliability can be reasonably explained is all very well (though I wish she'd given a link to Diallo’s lawyer's argument about the phone call to the friend, as that seemed pretty important at the time and this is the first time I've heard it's been debunked), but the legal system demands more than that. Freeman pours scorn on the idea that Diallo's history of lying should be considered more important than the nature of her vaginal bruising, whilst skipping over the fact that Diallo's injuries could be ten times more important than what she said to immigration officials, and it still wouldn't guarantee a conviction.

Besides, at the risk of being blunt, suggesting that being prepared to lie to authorities about being raped to gain access to the country should be considered entirely irrelevant to whether someone might lie to authorities about being raped to gain money seems to be an act of wilful intellectual blindness. Moreover, whilst "she isn't behaving like a rape victim" is a much more distasteful stance than "she isn't behaving like a competent blackmailer", I'm not sure it's a great deal less convincing as an argument - I'm pretty sure there's lots of people out there who commit crimes without realising just how awful they are at it. Hell, raping a woman in a room under your own name whilst in a foreign country and whilst knowing any hint of scandal would cost you your job and your chance to become President sounds like an amazingly stupid idea, but Freeman is perfectly happy to believe that that's what happened.