April 12, 2018

"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to answer Wednesday about his social media site's seedy precursor - FaceMash."

"FaceMash, created by Zuckerberg out of his Harvard dorm room, was a Hot-or-Not-inspired site that pinned the photos of two Harvard women against each other and allowed users to vote on who was more attractive. The all-but-forgotten site was resurrected during Zuckerberg's Congressional grilling on Wednesday when Representative Billy Long (R-Mo.) asked Zuckerberg what FaceMash is and if it's still operational, a question a seemingly annoyed Zuckerberg tried to breeze past with a curt response.... In order to create the site, Zuckerberg obtained his fellow students' photos by 'nonconsensually scraping pictures of students at Harvard from the school's intranet'... Grabbing those photos from Harvard's 'facebooks' - the school's database of students’ pictures and basic information - on a protected computer network, landed Zuckerberg on probation by the university's disciplinary board after outrage from students prompted the site's shuttering.... 'Some of these people have pretty horrendous facebook pics,' [wrote Zuckerberg in his journal at the time]. 'I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive… Let the hacking begin.'"

The Daily News reports.

MORE: From WaPo:
The short-lived FaceMash website began with a love-scorned Zuckerberg in 2003, who began to drink and write in his blog about an idea to hack university servers and download photos of students without permission, according to a 2008 profile in Rolling Stone. Then, fellow students could vote on their attractiveness using an algorithm that ranked the selections.

“I’m a little intoxicated, not gonna lie. So what if it’s not even 10 p.m. and it’s a Tuesday night? What? The Kirkland [dorm] facebook is open on my desktop and some of these people have pretty horrendous facebook pics,” he wrote that night....
He was very unattractive himself — physically and, apparently, emotionally — and he found a sneaky on-line way to restore his pride. I guess that's what the movie (mentioned at this point in the hearing) was about. "Social Network." I never bothered with that thing, so this FaceMash stuff feels new to me, though I'm sure I've read it before. It's interesting to think about the psychic pain and struggle that underlies Facebook. But some of that is Hollywood narrative. Yesterday, Zuckerberg brushed off FaceMash as a prank. Yet in these days when women are making our perspective dominant, the ugliness of men can't be laughed off as a prank. We're having a reckoning, remember?

137 comments:

mccullough said...

Only good question during Theater Hearings. Zuckerburg is a young Trump in a hoodie without Trump’s sense of humor.

Nonapod said...

Zuckerberg's always been a nasty little jerk.

“They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks.” - Mark Zuckerberg

Knowing his true nature, it's sorta funny seeing him going into his "Aw shucks, we're connecting people! You control your experience!" nonsense.

madAsHell said...

No one is going to call him attractive, and for all his money, his wife is kind of homely too!!

Fernandinande said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fernandinande said...

Harvard and Yale used to get incoming freshmen to pose naked.

eric said...

It seems like the problem here is rating womens looks, not getting the pictures in some diabolical way. We aren't talking about nude pictures here, but presumably normal, public, pictures.

There used to be a TV show called Hot or Not. Doing that today is considered a scandal.

This country needs an amicable divorce.

The Bergall said...

"Mr. Zuckerberg, please explain in detail how you convinced people to voluntarily disclose their location, personal relationships, and interests without anyone protesting you."

gilbar said...

how can they lie, and call it "all but forgotten"
all but completely suppressed maybe; but certainly not forgotten

once you learn how facebook started:
stealing (scraping) people's info and pix without their consent
using that info in a derogatory and sexist way

All of Facebook makes much more sense
The more things change...

madAsHell said...

Zuckerberg == Sugar Mountain

I just like to elaborate Germanic names into modern English.

Hyphenated American said...

I am astonished they are discussing this silliness, instead of whether Facebook illegally helped Obama win 2012 elections.

Curious George said...

"We're having a reckoning, remember?"
Sure. Sure you are.

Fernandinande said...

'nonconsensually scraping pictures of students at Harvard from the school's intranet'.

"Scraping" sounds like "raping"(!), so it's more fake-newsy than saying "copied" or "downloaded".

Did the students volunteer to have their pictures on those intranets? Coaxed to do so? Required?

David Begley said...

All the money in the world didn't buy Zuck a decent haircut.

Nothing happens. Congress has been paid off. The GOP will do nothing. Facebook will be fully weaponized by the Dems for the midterms.

Jupiter said...

:. Yet in these days when women are making our perspective dominant, the ugliness of men can't be laughed off as a prank. We're having a reckoning, remember?"

"For the week of March 31st, 2018, 8 of the top 20 songs in Billboard’s “R&B/Hip-Hop” chart were blatantly sexist and misogynistic. In these songs, women were portrayed as commodities or luxury goods -- something to be owned or consumed and of no more importance than money, cars, liquor or drugs. Sexual lyrics are casually graphic and almost solely about women giving men pleasure."

Jupiter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
walter said...

FacePlant

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Facebook data is for Democrats only.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Facebook data is for Democrats only.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Selective partisan outrage over FB data mining.

Must feed the never-ending Russia and Trump stole the election by tricking everyone into disliking poor wonderful honest Hillary narrative.

mccullough said...

Scraping or scrape is also slang for an abortion, which is perfect. People who hand Facebook their data are both the pregnant and the fetus.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I watched the beginning of "Social Network". So tediously lame I had to turn it off.

Matt Sablan said...

Have they asked him about his cozy relationship with the Obama campaign yet, or is this the toughest "grilling" he's going to get?

Fernandinande said...

All your face are belong to us.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Althouse works for Google and Amazon, two of the four companies Zuckerberg named in his testimony as competitors.

rcocean said...

I find Zuckerprick a disgusting human being.

But then I don't worship wealth like most Americans.

Matt Sablan said...

"Althouse works for Google and Amazon, two of the four companies Zuckerberg named in his testimony as competitors."

-- Google+ is such a dead platform, that the fact he thinks of them as competitors tells me he either thinks Facebook does way more than it does, or he has no idea what Google users use Google for.

M Jordan said...

Much as I enjoy seeing Zuckererg twist in the wind, I have to say his selling of data seems pretty legit to me.

AZ Bob said...

Who was there to ban FaceMash as Harmful to the Community?

Bob Boyd said...

One time I got drunk and was comparing the faces of college girls when I fell over and non-consensually scraped my own face.

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
walter said...

Matthew Sablan said...Have they asked him about his cozy relationship with the Obama campaign yet, or is this the toughest "grilling" he's going to get?
--
It's amazing..that issue must be deemed "dangerous to the community"

J2 said...

Must see

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/984211807001817089.html

lgv said...

Show me the man, and I will find you the crime.

I think they should investigate his high school and grade school years. That's what the hearing is about isn't it?

We have a new standard now.

rhhardin said...

Trump's beauty contests included tits.

Mike Sylwester said...

Diamond and Silk say that Facebook still has not normalized their status.

Facebook essentially is censoring them for supporting President Trump while being Black.

I hope that Diamond and Silk sue Facebook for defamation ("unsafe to the community") and for racial discrimination.

Martin said...

The Social Network was actually a pretty good movie and in light of current events, definitely worth a look.
*******************************
Blogger rcocean said...
I find Zuckerprick a disgusting human being.
But then I don't worship wealth like most Americans.

I don't know that most Americans worship wealth. The ones who control what we see and hear and read in the media, and about 98% of the political class and 90%+ of the punditocracy certainly do, so it would be easy to get that impression.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Matthew Sablan said...

-- Google+ is such a dead platform, that the fact he thinks of them as competitors tells me he either thinks Facebook does way more than it does, or he has no idea what Google users use Google for.

You misunderstand what business they are in. You are right that Google+ is not a serious competitor to Facebook as a social media platform. However, Google is a competitor to Facebook in the business of selling eyeballs to advertisers. As part of that competition, each are collecting as much information about their users as they can, in order to sell ads best targeted to the advertiser's markets ( and therefore sell ads at the highest price possible per ad )

chickelit said...

They need to destroy Facebook in order to save it. Much like the media are doing to the Presidency.

rcocean said...

"I don't know that most Americans worship wealth."

Those on the center-right do. We used to call rich people "Robber Barons" and "Plutocrats" and "Malefactors of great wealth". People resented rich people dominating the Political process.

Now, you have people running around defending Zuckerprick, like he was the best buddy, and cheering that Billionaires and multi-millionaires only pay 15% on their capital gains tax or get a tax cut. Zuckerprick didn't invent anything. He took "MySpace" and tweeked it a little. At least Trump built something real.

People now accept the idea that there's no connection to what you actually do, and its benefit for society, and how much money you make. You even have morons demanding Zuckerprick and I pay the same Tax Rate!

William said...

The child is father to the man. Fortunately, he's a Democrat. He'll get a few nasty questions during the hearings, but he'll not achieve the demonic status of an oil executive, a real estate developer, or a Republican of national stature.......I have mixed feelings about wealth. I personally like money, but I don't like Zuck being one of the richest men alive. I just don't see how you can take down Zuck without causing a huge drop in the stock market and your own 401k.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“The short-lived FaceMash website began with a love-scorned Zuckerberg in 2003, who began to drink and write in his blog about an idea to hack university servers and download photos of students without permission, according to a 2008 profile in Rolling Stone. Then, fellow students could vote on their attractiveness using an algorithm that ranked the selections.”

Yes, sounded like the pimply faced nerd who hated the pretty girls because they shot him down and broke his heart, so revenge was in order. If only those mean pretty girls would’ve known that he’d be one of the richest men in the world, he’d have become the hottest guy on campus overnight, at least by the shallow ones.

Nonapod said...

If you're a conservative you always have to remember, Facebook along with Google, Twitter, Amazon, and most of the major tech companies are generally run by people who despise you, and this goes doubly for many of the employees of those companies too. They only like your potential for being monetized. They think of you as idiots, rubes, ignorant troglodytes, marks, and otherwise deplorable people who need to be managed and directed. They'll do everything they feel they reasonably can get away with to suppress your political opinions without making it too obvious, while feeding you their own propaganda. And when they're caught they'll make all sorts of surprised noises and platitudes about fixing completely unintended errors.

Glen Filthie said...

Well Ann, what do you and your vinegar drinking sisterhood of cat ladies expect? You've put barren, obese HR fatties in charge of the corporations and companies and they've run all the men off. Now you're stuck with spaghetti armed wimps, flits, and beta males like zuck and you don't like them either. Hate to say it but from where I sit, it serves you right...

zipity said...

But of course, none of this matters, as long as he supports the "right" side.

Double standards are the Liberal Left/Democrats specialty.

Just ask the Lion of the Senate, Ted Kennedy. Negligent homicide slid off him like butter on Teflon©.

robother said...

Inside every Weinstein is a skinny little dweeb Zuck longing to come out and sexually humiliate those cheerleaders that wouldn't have anything to do with him in high school. The secret sauce driving Hollywood (and Sillicon Valley) success.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

No one cares if FB data is mined for the party(D).
Cambridge Analyticica mined it for Trump and well, that's just not allowed.

Earnest Prole said...

Let She-Who-Is-Without-Dopey-Nineteen-Year-Old-Sin cast the first stone.

Rick said...

We're having a reckoning, remember?

It didn't take long to get past sexual assault did it? How low will we go do you suppose. Will it take us long to get to two guys having a private conversation?

Too Late

bagoh20 said...

Sometimes it's really infuriating who gets rich and powerful in our society. God should never have given us free will if he was going to make us all such putzes. The internet and social media in particular has made some really undeserving people rich.

William said...

Bezos, Gates, Zuckerberg saw what happened to Rockefeller and Carnegie and learned the appropriate lesson. I can't think of a single SJW issue on which they're on the wrong side.........Carnegie vertically integrated the steel industry. I think there were a couple of bloody strikes in the process of doing this. The man got crucified. Stalin's first Five Year Plan and Mao's Great Leap Forward were initiated to increase steel production. Millions of people died because of their clumsy efforts.. In their era, both Stalin and Mao were considered visionaries by the people who demonized Carnegie.

traditionalguy said...

Of course Face Mash is the jokester college boy prank that lead CIA guys to use him as a cover for their new Military Weapon developed to gather into one place info on every human on the planet from hundreds of digital sources. It was developed as a Targeting Tool, and that is all it does. Why the Globalists love to target people is the question we need to ask. Maybe they are socializing because they love us...like Nazi SS loved the Non Aryans the encountered in Pperatiom Barbarossa.

traditionalguy said...

That’s Operation Barbarossa. Invading Russia was slowed down to exterminate the Slavs. Exterminating Jews was a small sideline. And see the slow starvation of Russians in the Lenengrad pocket. Then reconsider Putin’s resolve to defend Russia.

MadisonMan said...

Did anyone ask why Harvard's server security was so lax that people could do what Zucker did?

FIDO said...

So he was willing to data mine private info illegally and post it.

This is called a record of malfeasance.

And him getting perhaps caught up in 'MeToo' is very much 'MeLikey'.

He isn't on my team and he doesn't defend our common cultural principles so fuck him.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

My favorite part is how the collective left collectively bitch about "big corporations" but these very big corporations are all loyal leftists.

Locally, my friend who runs a small one-woman business might have to go out of business because Boulder City cousel run by 100% progressive leftists keep raising taxes on commercial properties. Her rent has almost doubled. So now all the small mom and pop shops are forced to close while the big guys - Google, Facebook, Amazon are all moving in, turning a once mom and pop town, into mega corporate town. But hey - all the big mega corporations are in the tank with the D- so it's all cool.

Thanks collective left. & take your bullshit lip service about caring for mom and pop, and shove it.

David said...

A number of our commenters seem to be irony adverse.

walter said...

Mark Zuckerberg Calls Obama Digital Team Head A Liar

“‘They came to office in the days following election recruiting and were very candid that they allowed us to do things they wouldn’t have allowed someone else to do because they were on our side’–now, that’s a direct quote from one of the heads of the Obama digital team. What would she mean by they–Facebook were on our side?”
“Congressman, we didn’t allow the Obama campaign to do anything that any developer on the platform wouldn’t have otherwise been able to do,” Zuckerberg said.

“So she was making an inaccurate statement in your point of view?”

“Yes,” he said.

The quote that Scalise was referring to is from Carol Davidse, a leader of Obama for America’s digital strategy.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger traditionalguy said...
. . . And see the slow starvation of Russians in the Lenengrad pocket. Then reconsider Putin’s resolve to defend Russia.

Do you think that the Nazis or the Commies killed more Slavs?
Stalin signed his pact with Hitler in exchange for half of Poland. When Stalin got his half, he immediately setup his Slav-extermination/deportation machine.

johns said...

Zuckerberg was comparing women to animals long after Roy Moore was dating teenagers.

Rick said...

Locally, my friend who runs a small one-woman business might have to go out of business because Boulder City cousel run by 100% progressive leftists keep raising taxes on commercial properties. Her rent has almost doubled. So now all the small mom and pop shops are forced to close while the big guys - Google, Facebook, Amazon are all moving in, turning a once mom and pop town, into mega corporate town.

The big companies probably aren't paying any tax either. They often move in only if the localities negotiate tax holidays with them.

traditionalguy said...

Whether Communist/Stalin or Hitler’s German SS killed the most Slavs is irrelevant to the starving families of Leningrad.

But happily FDR lead forces saved Russians and killed Germans.

walter said...

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/magazine/the-obama-campaigns-digital-masterminds-cash-in.html

walter said...

Interesting bits on Romney's campaign in there..

Lewis Wetzel said...

If you look at Zuckerberg's own FB page, you see that it seems to be mostly posts with Zuckerberg apologizing for his company's screwups alternating with posts praising his minority & female hires.
Huh.
Maybe it is a meta-thing.

Anonymous said...

If they can go after Trump re an old one-nighter, I guess going after Zuck in his college days
is OK.

n.n said...

Precursor, and, apparently, competition. It may be time to break up the baby dot.coms.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger traditionalguy said...
. . .
But happily FDR lead forces saved Russians and killed Germans.

Wrong, Tradguy! Facebook developed AI has determined that the Siege of Leningrad was broken by Mark Zuckerberg. All the history books will have to be changed.

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Sylwester said...

How come no Senator asked Zuckerberg about Farmville?

Maybe Russians are using Farmville to meddle in US elections.

Think about it.

Virgil Hilts said...

Because you go to BU!
Ann, you should see Social Network, or at least read the book. MZ is a different character in both. My daughter was at H at the time, knew some of the players and HATED the movie, but I loved it. Even if you refuse to see it, you have to watch the opening girlfriend breakup scene and make sure close captioning is on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlSkPA60ujQ
I love how Eisenberg talks faster than most people could think (though I don't think that its an accurate depiction).

Curious George said...

"Inga said...
If only those mean pretty girls would’ve known that he’d be one of the richest men in the world, he’d have become the hottest guy on campus overnight, at least by the shallow ones."

Didn't you marry a doctor?

Nonapod said...

Zuckerberg slowly beginning to demonstrate his contrition for the grievous transgression of allowing the precious datas to fall into the wrong hands. Only time will tell if this will be sufficient penance for his great sins, or if the Left will require more self flagellation.

Darrell said...

Zuckerberg chose the winners in his two-up photo competitions based on where the majority of his sperm landed. He called that his "algorithm."

Krumhorn said...

We're having a reckoning, remember?

Many of our colleagues here often seem to be tone deaf to the language our hostess writes. I don’t see how anyone who is a regular reader of this blog can possibly miss the irony in her question.

- Krumhorn

walter said...

Mike Sylwester said...How come no Senator asked Zuckerberg about Farmville?
--
Or his relationship to farm animals.

Krumhorn said...

Inga @ 10:52


Ding ding ding ding. We have a thread winner!

- Krumhorn

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"He was very unattractive himself — physically and, apparently, emotionally"

Zuckerberg is extremely attractive now, that's for sure! He could do a lot better than his wife, looks-wise. If all Asian women looked like her or Soon-Yi Allen, yellow fever would be totally eradicated.

Titus said...

Do you know I hang out at the restaurant/bar that was the hangout in The Social Network. It is called The Thirsty Scholar-it is like an Irish Bar. I love their fish and chips.

tits.

Titus said...

I think he is attractive now. Slim, neat appearance. I sense he has a big hog. I would do him.

tits

Titus said...

Asian tourists come to the bar all the time and take pics, because like Facebook and the movie.

Sebastian said...

"Yet in these days when women are making our perspective dominant, the ugliness of men can't be laughed off as a prank."

Our Perspective = That's Not Funny.

I know our hostess maintains some ironic distance here, but just to get up to date on current feminist doctrine, is "the ugliness of men" inherent in all men, so that masculinity itself is toxic, or is the ugliness just an unfortunate component of the creative, entrepreneurial, driven gender, a little toxicity mixed in with the good stuff women are happy to take advantage of?

William said...

I think Trump was reasonably monogamous during the early years of his first marriage. It's not that hard to do. Your wife is still competitive with most of the women you encounter, and, anyway, your focus is on career and family. Life isn't a one act play though. Maybe Zuckerberg will entertain other interests and enthusiasms as he moves through his later years......As it is now, he appears bland, benign and respectable. Maybe that's who he is, but if he wasn't, you would never know.......There used to be a saying that behind every great fortune there was a great crime. This was accepted as a truism by all people on the left, but that was before the perfection of pr imaging. If you adopt the right causes and project the right image, your sainthood is assured. Look at Weinstein and Cosby. Very few serial rapists were held in such high public esteem for such a lengthy period of time.

walter said...

"Maybe Zuckerberg will entertain other interests and enthusiasms as he moves through his later years"
Hear that Titus?

Wince said...

My Fist Your Face

Countin' up the days
Please no more
My fist your face
That's for sure

Hey Betty Boop you got me droolin'
I'm buzzing 'round your hive tonight
You play the hooky stead of schoolin'
Son of a bitch put out the light
Thirteen year old hookers
Take a sack right trough the bars
You wonder why the man's outside the door
Junior achievers, got the old bull by the horns
Back in the saddle gets you sore...

Please no more
My fist your face
That's for sure

SDaly said...

How is that any different from Tom & Lorenzo?

D 2 said...

Love scorned / Face mashed
Data scraped / Hopes dashed
Deplorables / Burma Shave

D 2 said...

Algorithms / EULA
Analytics / Pay-to-play
Its different when we do it / Burma Shave

Mike Sylwester said...

I've been thinking about how Russians might be using Farmville on Facebook to meddle in our elections.

People who play Farmville are happy to become Facebook friends with any strangers who will be willing to click mutually on their farms.

So, I speculate that Russia's notorious Internet Research Agency (IRA) in Moscow employs a lot of people who are enrolled in Farmville and who thus position themselves to become Facebook friends with Americans who are playing Farmville on Facebook.

Well, when these Russian IRA meddlers become Facebook friends, they are able to look at those friends' Facebook profiles and pages and evaluate those friends' political opinions and activities. Furthermore, the Russian IRA meddlers can evaluate their friends' friends profiles and pages.

In some cases, the Russian IRA meddlers might be able to bribe Americans to vote certain ways. For example, a Russian IRA meddler might offer to sell a rare purple cow to someone if he promises to vote for Trump.

Despite all these possibilities, not one Senator asked Mark Zuckerberg about Farmville.

Wake up, Democrats!!!!

The Russians still are meddling in our elections, right under your noses !!!

Left Bank of the Charles said...

FaceMash passes Althouses standard of feminism, equality between the sexes, because Zuckerberg scraped and posted the pictures of both male and female students.

If you go back to the Harvard Crimson's 2003 article, there is no mention of gender, just "students." Even in 2003 that would have been noted.

Mike Sylwester said...

Facebook could do a statistical correlation between members who play Farmville and members who received advertisements purchased by Russians.

If Facebook has done such a correlation, then it is keeping the results secret.

Think about it.

walter said...

Sounds like a lot of AI involved in that..

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

The dominant feminist perspective is Pro-Choice and not exactly female friendly, let alone hospitable to men, or babies. It is #SheWasUsed #TheyKnew #TheyProgressed #SheWasDiscarded

HT said...

what they talk about when they are avoiding the topic of Paul Ryan.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I never trusted Zuckerberg nor had the lapse of reason to think that joining up on his internet toy was a well-enough safeguarded choice to make. But watching these bumbling fools ask him basically what data is and whether they are or are not their own data, the data that they choose to unload all over his own cyber property - like so many peanut husks and popcorn kernels dribble off the bathrobe of a lazy slob - I must say that I have way more respect for him.

He's right. If those are the types of assholes trusting him then they truly are "dumb fucks" and deserve everything that happens to their magically personalized data.

Take 'em for all they got, Zuck!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

It really sucks that a pile of shit like zuckerwussy can get so rich, hope his life turns in to shit.

No it doesn't. It's perfectly appropriate.

In a society filled with so much desperate, empty narcissism that people would rather sign away their personal details to a few billionaires just so they can make the aunt in Podunk Iowa that they never see grin for the sake of publicized bragging rights at photos of them hiking up some mountain in god-knows-where or photographing their food, then they deserve to have their lives reduced to sold-to-the-highest-bidder data.

At least twice over.

If that's what people need to simply bother checking in with each other on their own initiative then they deserve nothing better and nothing less.

THe most amazing thing is how circumspect he is about moving to the voluntary paid-for model. Jesus, people are CHEAP, too!

Yeah, they deserve what he makes off their data and their recently realized as meaningless lives.

Lewis Wetzel said...

I've heard that after the revelations of the last few weeks, Facebook's brand has become so poisoned they are going to change its name to "zuckerweb."

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

My favorite part is how the collective left collectively bitch about "big corporations" but these very big corporations are all loyal leftists.

Yeah, well we know you can't regulate them so we will.

It's like the way you guys like war more. Because you know it better. You are violent and therefore understand violence better.

We understand things of value better so leave the economic stuff to us. 40 years of Republican rule and what the fuck has it done for the debt and the working class? Piled the former up sky high and threw the latter in the gutter.

Time to admit you're just not very good at this stuff.

Birkel said...

TTR: "In a society filled with so much desperate, empty narcissism...
...
"We understand things of value better... "

Grouped so others may consider the sound of one synapse snapping.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Just when you thought you couldn't be bored enough, here comes the Cliff Clavin of glibertarianism.

Birkel's funeral will be a lightly attended affair. There is a chance however, that he may be a less boring corpse than he was in life.

Coming here to spout barely noticeable gibberish is the only thing that keeps this mannequin of a man feeling alive.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

How many women have fallen asleep on Birkel while he was having sex with them?

All two of them?

wildswan said...

I asked a young friend of mine what kind of event could be a "Pearl Harbor event", an event that would radically change her outlook and those of everyone in her age group in the same way that Pearl Harbor changed a majority isolationist America to a majority of Americans supporting war.

She said it would be an event that had to do with her cell phone and social media, an event somewhat like finding out that Apple had a backdoor to her phone, only a mega version of that, an invasion in the digital/social media realm.
I found that interesting. These Facebook hearings seem inconclusive but perhaps they and the stories on Big Data and on Chinese facial recognition and on Apple backdoors into iPhones and on Twitter mobbing are all building up toward huge transformational event among Millennials especially in a way will be perfectly obvious when it happens.

If I were 15 or 20 now what would I really think about a lifetime (as it now is trending) of increasing privacy invasions by, with, in, and from social media? of news spewing? To me - at over 70 - the internet is just books I could never have accessed and friends far away and easier travel. But is that the Millennial experience? is that what they anticipate? or fear? is social media high-school-on-steroids-and-forever for them? Does Zuckerberg look exactly like what they expect their future overlords to look like?

HipsterVacuum said...

"Birkel's funeral will be a lightly attended affair."

Yours can't come soon enough.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Wildswan wrote:
She said it would be an event that had to do with her cell phone and social media, an event somewhat like finding out that Apple had a backdoor to her phone, only a mega version of that, an invasion in the digital/social media realm.
I found that interesting.

We're nearly there. Most people -- especially young people -- carry around a device with backward and forward looking cameras and a microphone, that are remotely accessible, with no off switches.

walter said...

After a brief intermission (allowing the fond look back on Obamanomics and barf bag disposal), TTR will return for the second act: "Education R us"
There's adequate time to shuffle over to the merch table to pick up dry erase tombstone replicas to practice the wish for death of political "others" with tactile and visual aids.

narciso said...


Comeys evasions,are truly cringe indulging



https://mobile.twitter.com/GrayConnolly/status/984587734453899264

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

I'm not a sociologist or anything, but isn't human nature that, when we see two things side-by-side, we automatically try to determine which one is better? I mean, if there are two donuts on a plate we pretty much evaluate which one is the better donut, even if we end up eating both of them.

And sometimes the decision is obvious: you got a killer maple bar sitting next to some deflated vegan non-gluten thing with a hole in it, you leave the deflated vegan non-gluten thing with a hole in it for the next dude, sorry.

But sometimes the two things are hard to decide between, and that is what happens when you are looking at two chicks. Because maybe one is blonde with a navel ring, but the brunette chick has killer tits. It's like they are both maple bars, really.

In a porn film you'd get both of them, with one sucking your cock while the other licks your balls, but that doesn't happen in real life unless you're rich, or a gay dude in Seattle. Because a gay dude in Seattle probably doesn't have much trouble getting two other gay dudes to suck his cock and lick his balls.

Or maybe that doesn't really happen that way for gay dudes, and the gay dudes on 4chan are just lying. But that would suck, because getting two other gay dudes to suck your cock and lick your balls seems like it would be one of the advantages of being gay.

Anyway, we're wired to pick one when we see two. Like, on 4chan you might be looking at a picture of two chicks spreading their ass cheeks and showing their assholes, and the chicks might not really be that different, but you're gonna pick one as better than the other, because you kinda have to, it's biology and shit.

And people get upset that people do this kinda thing, but I think hypocrisy is a biological thing too, maybe. Like, we're wired to think that when we do something it's different than when other people do that thing, because other people are idiots, mostly, us smart people can see the difference. And if you don't think this way you're neurotic, and neurotic cave-men didn't get laid, they just drew shit on cave walls and felt like no one appreciated their genius, even though they still couldn't even make a fire without lightning hitting a tree and shit.

I post my shit here.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

"Birkel's funeral will be a lightly attended affair."

Yours can't come soon enough.


And yours won't even be noticed.

Hell, you'll be lucky if the coroner even identifies you as Homo sapiens!

But the likelihood is that they'll just identify your remains as a bum of a different species. Vaguely humanoid, but more reptilian than mammalian.

Achilles said...

The Toothless Revolutionary said...

Coming here to spout barely noticeable gibberish is the only thing that keeps this mannequin of a man feeling alive.


The best part of TTRs posts are he is guilty of every personal attack he flings at others. Especially the gibberish comment.

I would tell you to go read your own posts but you are either doing it on purpose and playing an elaborate joke or you are just too stupid to get it.

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Gretchen said...

The left must be wrestling with the Zuck. On the one hand Facebook accepted a few ads that "lost Clinton the election", on the other hand they are great at suppressing conservative views and are the social media arm of the party. Furthermore, where else can they post pics of themselves wearing pussy hats and lady parts costumes?

Zuck is a scum, but a reliably Democrat scum.

narciso said...

I kind of like this more kaded take on the getty incident

Freeman Hunt said...

Questions about college pranks. Hard-hitting!

walter said...

Gretchen,
Be real. The Dems floating that are only viewing it as a potential piece in attempt to undermine Trump.
It's noise..as is Zucky yapping above oath.
"I understand..will do better. Thank you very much..I got a suit out of this."

Leigh said...

So Zuck gets a taste of FaceBook’s data aggregation machine after foolishly memorializing his private thoughts — e.g., pitting the “farm animal” ugly against the attractive girls would be uproarious fun. Yep, MZ, your FB is one ugly baby. Should’ve followed Obama’s advice: “don’t slice the salami too thin,” or you might lose a slice to the big mandolin.

walter said...

What? He took the salami up the ass...willingly.

walter said...

(taking one for the team)

Blue@9 said...

I think considering the current "metoo" climate Zuckerberg realized that that line of questioning was the most dangerous and hazard-laden in the entire hearing. The guy can be a powermonger asshole who screws over millions, but disrespecting women would be his end.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The best part of TTRs posts are he is guilty of every personal attack he flings at others. Especially the gibberish comment.

Achilles just wouldn't be Achilles if he ever became smart enough to figure out the difference between being misunderstood and being in comprehensible.

But in the meantime he's a great example of what a steroid self-injecting layabout can pretend to accomplish - if he only had a mind for it.

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Achilles said...

Watching this hearing was an excellent argument for a smaller less intrusive government.


These people just don't know what they don't know.

Chris N said...

I’ll take a pro-Zuck line here: If every guy could be a Don Juan 6 foot plus rich all star maybe who that’s what we’d all do.

This guy was really smart and remarkably disciplined and doing nerdy stuff, and he didn’t even go black hat. He designed algorithms for a practical user interface and attracted a lot of other top talent millions of people find useful and enriching. Hopefully his political ambitions don’t run too deep.

He runs one of the few businesses that came out ahead for a time in a very competitive and quickly evolving sector, and guess what nitwit, if you’re not paying, you’re the product. Read the fine print and be a decent human being yourself and go elsewhere if you don’t like it. Let’s use the bruised egos of all the upstaged lawyers, politicians, media folks, brick and mortar businesses to put guardrails on this powerful new technology collecting a lot of very personal data. We could do a lot worse. We’ve all gained ability to communicate quickly over vast distances.

Sure Silicon Valley is full of idealistic nerds and math geeks who often don’t understand shit about politics, history and how a lot of other institutions work.

Sure there are plenty of ideologues and dangerously useless shakedown artists who will shake them down just to can control what you think and say. Right now it’s racemongers, feminists, and crusading Leftist victim-kooks and their delightfully corrupt pols.

Fight power with power and try to keep the zealots at bay.






rhhardin said...

Zucker is German for sugar.

rhhardin said...

Yet in these days when women are making our perspective dominant, the ugliness of men can't be laughed off as a prank.

Men laugh it off. It offends women, which makes it funny.

rhhardin said...

It's funny until somebody gets their hymen poked out.

Then it's still funny, just not around that woman.

Anonymous said...

Is it ridiculous that I'm worried about Ann because she hasn't posted in almost 24 hours? :) -- Jessica

Kevin said...

Is it ridiculous that I'm worried about Ann because she hasn't posted in almost 24 hours? :) -- Jessica

We all hope she's just enjoying herself somewhere, but maybe if everyone clicks their heels three times and hits the Amazon link...

Rick said...

Is it ridiculous that I'm worried about Ann because she hasn't posted in almost 24 hours?

Is this the day the streak ends?

Streak Ends

Hagar said...

Meadhouse is on the road again, or AA has got the flu.
If it is the flu, may it be one of the milder varieties!

rhhardin said...

Thomas Berger "Who Is Teddy Villanova?" on the heroine of the book, Peggy. Cited for hymen reference amusing to men, and then for similarity to Zuleika Dobson's "Zuleika was not strictly beautiful" passage. (Villanova is new house, like Althouse is old, as well.)

[Peggy] was twenty-nine, a Queens Irish spinster of the type I should call relentless, and unless she had lost her fleur while competing in the high hurdles as a parochial schoolgirl, she was yet in formidable possession of it. My theory was that Peggy believed her entering my [inner office] chamber might be construed as a suggestion, even though she carried a file of unpaid bills, that in reciprocation the temple of her body might be invaded.

Peggy had an elaborate pair of breasts, but quite near and flanking them was always, even on winter days when the heat invariably fled the corroded old radiators, crescents of sweat stains in the armpits of the oysterish or pale-beige blouses the doggedly favored. She had rather more ample hips than those that attract me most, yet a slacker behind, and withal plump calves, notwithstanding which she wore skirts which cleared the knee. Only under certain freakish conditions of light could her hair be seen as not absolutely black. I dote on pale blondes.

Her voice was off-putting as well. When she raised it she could loosen the hardened putty from the window-panes, and though sexually a prude she was coarsely candid about truly impolite functions. "Got to hit the can!" was her shout as preface to a visit down the hall...

rhhardin said...

Althouse is in Tahiti.

gilbar said...

back in the day, she brags of her "streak of daily posting " (which was 5.5 years when i found that quote); so, she's still got plenty of time today to make a daily post.
(assuming that it's not tomorrow in Tahiti?)

mockturtle said...

I pray all is well with Althouse. We hold her to awfully high standards, don't we?

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

"We hold her to awfully high standards, don't we?"

Better than nothing is a high standard.

Birkel said...

I too am hopeful that all is well with Meadhouse. We wish the blogtrix well!!

Curious George said...

"Is this the day the streak ends?"

If it is, it's fitting that it's Friday the 13th.