June 17, 2020
"Should you happen to find yourself near a statue that you decide you no longer like, we asked scientists for the best, safest ways to bring it to the ground without anyone getting hurt—except, of course, for the inanimate racist who’s been dead for a century anyway."
Popular Mechanics obviously wants a link, and I topple for it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
68 comments:
It’s all just jealousy. There’s no modern liberal Democrat for whom anyone will put up a statue.
In the 60s, PM was an all-American mag, boring for a youngster that was creative but not mechanical. Now, not so much.
THEOLDMAN
I had to look to see if this (on Twitter) was really a Babylon Bee story "about" PM
That is so feeble to merely take down their statues. Real SJWs will dig up their bodies and burn them and then impale the skulls in a public place. Popular Mechanics comes in handy for learning many skills.
PopularMechanics is looking for readers.
Stick with building shit, assholes. Don't go giving the luddites any ideas.
Everyday, I end up hating people more and more. WHY all the destruction all of a sudden?? If a statue from 100 years ago makes you angry, go get help. It's YOU, not the statues...that's history. But let's remove History, to make some crybabies happy, that will NEVER be happy enough anyways. Sick of it all. Trump in a landslide, because the rest of them are nuts.
Who do they think reads their magazine?
Hint: it’s not the Social Justice Illuminati.
A nice follow-up to their previous articles:
Bringing Down Manhattan Skyscrapers During Working Hours? Proven Strategies to Kill More People!
And, Jews in the Ovens: Experts Determine the Best Temperatures!
Everyone is rushing to bend a knee to the Marxists. They'll be the ones most surprised when they hear the sound of the door closing behind them in the cattle cars.
I won't be there with them.
Over just the last week, the media and their fellow travelers found it appalling that any statue from a past era was standing, no matter whether it was an abolitionist, a random scientist, or an historical figure who's views are to be buried (not learned from, but buried). We also found out that you cannot wear a t-shirt that has the logo of a conservative news channel, while fishing, with your friends and family, on vacation. Or you will get found out and cast out. We also found out that you cannot run a conservative website and allow comments. Period. This sayeth the Lords from far-Left organizations in the UK. And NBC News. And Google- all working together to keep the sheep in check.
Erase history? Hell- that's been going on for decades now. The young BLM'ers and Woke Whiteys don't even know that they are emulating the Red Guards so closely, I'd swear I was in Communist China in 1966. This country best wake up fast and some adult somewhere best stand up and say, "I'm not playing. This ends here and now."
Recently, discussion started about 'master-slave' naming convention common in computer science.
This week, software companies are renaming so-called 'master branches' of their source code trees to 'main branches'.
Tomorrow, we'll probably see burning of classical science literature for reasons related to either 'problematic' vocabulary, or its general whiteness.
Welcome to the Orwell's future!
Yeah, I saw that earlier this morning. I've already cancelled my subscription.
Should you happen to find yourself outside the building of a publication that you decide you no longer like, we asked scientists for the best, safest ways to burn the building to the ground without anyone getting hurt —except, for course, for the inanimate fascist publication who's been dead for years now.
Does anyone have a handy list of advertisers in Popular Mechanics? It sounds like what should be toppled is any ad money flowing to to the magazine.
By the way, this is the 3rd article I've read from 3 different sources in the past 2 weeks on how to topple a statue or obelisk. One gave very explicit instructions on how to bring down an obelisk and indicated at the end that her instructions should not be used to topple the Washington Monument. She would not like that (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
This is the way of our academic friends now who actually think that this will save them when the time comes for them to be judged by the Marxists. It won't. Had they taken a history class on their way to tenure, they'd have recognized this fact: you don't make nice with Marxists who know you are guilty of something and will destroy you anyway just...because.
I one of the unwoke that still sees the absurdity of PM having a political bent instead of serving its long held mission of being a friend to dateless geeks everywhere...
...yesterday the mob reached the economists- Althouse post here. John Cochrane has some scathing comments about it. He makes an eloquent revoke of the current culture and a call to fight back against the madness...
Sure, I'm just as afraid of the Red Guards of our twitter mob as the rest of you, and reluctant to offer contrary opinions. The Krugmans, Wolfers, and other assorted Jacobins are waiting for me to write or tweet one sentence that can be taken out of context and demand my head. I doubt the upper levels of administration at Stanford have any more spine in defense of conservative and libertarian speech than do those of Chicago. But we must speak for free speech before it's too late. If you donate money to a university, you have a special duty to speak up and let them know where you stand. Chicago in particular has a courageous statement in favor of free speech. Demand that they honor their fine words with courageous action. Others, like my Stanford don't even have the courage to state it. Demand that they do.
...and offers this update, which is a sentiment all to common in the current climate...
Update: And to the many colleagues who have written to say they feel this way too but don't dare say anything, you need to speak up too. At a minimum others need to know they are also not alone.
Speak up so others know they are not alone.
If you find yourself near such a statue, you should start a petition for its removal or contact your state rep about removing it.
I can't believe I'm reading this from typically bland mags like PM. This sh!t is starting to seriously spin out of control.
Eat me last, said popular mechanics to the army of crocodiles
Recently, discussion started about 'master-slave' naming convention common in computer science.
This week, software companies are renaming so-called 'master branches' of their source code trees to 'main branches'.
One of my professional associations is also removing "blacklist & whitelist" (as in IP addresses etc) from its publications. Really? I'm paying dues for this?
In coming issues:
..Best implements for breaking store windows and digging up paving blocks.
..How to safely set a police cruiser, even a city bus, on fire.
Assholes.
On a Facebook thread, a friend noted the destruction of a statue of Thomas Jefferson and wondered if there would be a list of people we *are* allowed to put up statues to. A left acquaintance of ours then provided a list, the first (and least political) name on it being 'Oprah.'
.
So there we have it: The country should tear down statues of the author of the Declaration of Independence and put up statues of Oprah.
How does one who ignores the rule of law later claim the protection of the law, in any circumstances?
Speak up so others know they are not alone.
There are about a million people trying to get into the Trump rally in Tulsa.
Tulsa.
You are not alone.
There is a statue of MLK in New Britain, CT. It is in a stupid place next to a highway off-ramp where it doesn’t get noticed much. MLK is apparently supposed to be making his “I have a dream” speech, but he looks more like he just got kicked in the nuts. Maybe they should take that one down. I suppose that soon they will figure out that MLK was a Christian and believed in equality for all persons, and he will be cancelled too.
Good times!
and I topple for it.
Since you shun posts and links you find disagreeable, we can conclude that you find this link and the subject matter agreeable. Yes?
Let's try out this set of techniques on the Heg statue, then.
A nearby anchor (tree, vehicle, etc) good climbing rope and a come-a-long.
I would like to see PM do an article on how to booby trap your building to bring it down in the event of occupation by looters and/or arsonists.
"inanimate racist who’s been dead for a century anyway."
Most of our ancestors were fundamentally wrong about something.
Progressivism requires a continual cleansing of the culture.
Newton's Third law
"When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body."
Or, to put it more simply:
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
November.
"WHY all the destruction all of a sudden?"
Progs don't let a crisis go to waste. Culture gotta be cleansed.
But Althouse will decide in November. Can't make up her mind just yet.
If we see any or all of the items listed on pallets on street corners in major cities, you'll know George Soros went shopping.
When is it our turn to pull down statues of people we don't like?
A dismaying number of Molotov cocktails have failed to work as expected.Perhaps PM could address this.
Starting in their lobby.
Rails to Trails Conservancy, a formerly-great organization dedicated to conserving abandoned railbeds and converting them to bike trails, has now become a Social Justice group. Prominently featured on their website is their loooong explanation of how they're going to Stand Against Racism. Because I am (was) a member I got the screed in my email inbox. It took me all of a minute to end my association of 40 years.
Popular Mechanics used to be all about interesting machines and gadgets, but they seem to be experiencing "mission creep".
The irony is that a magazine with the word "mechanics" right in the title, seems to be unaware that society itself has mechanisms for erecting statues and monuments and these same mechanisms for removing such installments. It is not up to random passers by to determine what is in our public square.
So Gundi is a racist now? I guess he might have been but he strove for a greater good.
I guess the black solders that fought in the American civil war for the North were racist? I guess some of them might have been but they also strove for a greater good.
They defaced and pulled down some abolitionist statues too. Might they also have been racists? I suppose so but like many of the others, they stove for a greater good.
Funny how today the liberals are SO ill-informed and/or so un-tolerant, they can not credit anyone or anything being other than [what they view as] 100% pure. With a standard like that, they will all eventually be eaten.
Funny how so many of the liberals and Democrats still adhere to the "one drop" rule though they have built upon that for today's times. It now also includes the "one thought" rule. No matter how long ago you [publicly] had an impure thought [by their current standard] you are forever poisoned, unless of course you are the "right" liberal or Democrat, though that pool is constantly shrinking.
What if I should happen to find myself living in a shotgun shack, in another part of the world?
Can we start taking names off buildings too? What did Bob Kastenmeier do for blacks in Madison? Why is the Federal Court House here named for him, here in racist Madison, its racism proof that Democrat Kastenmeier did nothing.
So there we have it: The country should tear down statues of the author of the Declaration of Independence and put up statues of Oprah.
Oprah's endorsement of weight loss constitutes fat-shaming. She has to go.
The crazy left, as usual, is going way too far and has no idea of the people they are pissing off.
Academics and white collar workers fear for their jobs. Plumbers and mechanics are laughing as they apply for tickets to Trump rallies.
I hope they didn’t tweet this. It looks like glorifying destruction to me.
Here's my scheme for getting rid of statues you don’t like: Follow the existing legal procedures.
Can we start tearing down all the buildings, (courthouses, post offices ect) statues, and street names named for KKK leader Robert Byrd?? And Since Obama eulogized him, let's tear down all the schools named for him, his statues, roads named for him ect. They anger me, and I want them down now!!!
What's next?
A fireman tells us the most effective way to have a mass book burning.
It is a Brave New World.
"When is it our turn to pull down statues of people we don't like?"
They're leveraging their dominant numbers in cities, including college towns.
When is the follow-up article of how to destroy a magazine's office with minimal collateral damage?
JAORE said...
A dismaying number of Molotov cocktails have failed to work as expected.Perhaps PM could address this
In the 50s we got all 3 magazines in my house: popular Mechanix, popular Science and Mechanics Illustrated.
Gus Wilson's Model Garage was one of the inspirations for my KC Boxbottom series (Marmaduke Surface low was the others)
First time I ever heard of a molotov cocktail was in one of those mags. In the 50s.
It had pictures and enough description that I was able to build one that worked.
John Henry
Mr Wibble said...
What if I should happen to find myself living in a shotgun shack, in another part of the world?
Watch your mouth there. Shotgun will be triggering to some of the more delicate flowers.
Say rather, "railroad" house.
A shotgun or railroad house has all rooms in line so that you can kill everyone with a single shotgun blast.
John Henry
In five years, blacks will be even worse off because the magic statue solution didn't work either.
Tear down the FDR Memorial for what he did to the Japanese and Italian Americans.
The NY Review of Books famously put a badly designed Molotov cocktail on their cover. Theirs had a length of rope going into the bottle as a fuse to light. Not good. It can explode early. It can allow flaming gas to drain from the bottle, onto you, as you throw it.
Better to have the rag or rope fuse on the OUTSIDE of the sealed bottle, so the gasoline can only ignite upon impact with the ground, far away from the launch.
It is without such details that revolutions fail. No go outside and play, you crazy kids!
I don't care about these statues, it's not as if they're destroying Rodin's The Thinker or Michelangelo's David (although that does make me wonder, are any of these statues being torn down considered to be art?) I just think decisions about removal should be in a more orderly way and not a function of mob rule. And I wonder what's next, bridges and dams? Surely a lot of those were designed and/or constructed by the ideologically impure.
In order to get back at the D's, you'd have to go after FDR, JFK, or some patron saint like Obama or Muhammad Ali. Most of them didn't like Truman or Carter. You can see why they hate American history and statues, because its hard to think of any liberal D or leftist that contributed anything of real value to the country in the last 120 years.
Is there a monument to Ted Kennedy somewhere? Maybe a statue to his bravery at Chappaquiddick?
Mitch McConnell of course is all in favor of renaming army bases and destroying confederate monuments in Federal run civil war graveyards - but got upset when Pelosie wanted to take down a Capitol Hill statues of Jefferson Davis and/or Calhoun. Why that was "airbrushing history"! Who cares about the rest of the country? This affects Mitch.
You have to wonder how such an out-of-touch elitist, who cares only about cutting rich man's taxes and pleasing the Big Donors like the Koch Brothers and Paul Singer, gets re-elected by Kentucky.
it's not as if they're destroying Rodin's The Thinker or Michelangelo's David
First, they came for... Diversity is a progressive condition, a principle and doctrine of the Pro-Choice, selective, opportunistic religion. #HateLovesAbortion
List of places named after Robert Byrd
Planned Portrait. The knockout game evolves.
See how it works
Blogger Sally327 almost said...
I don't care about these petty Black criminals, it's not as if cops are destroying LeBron James or Michael Jordan (although that does make me wonder, are any of these negros being gunned down considered to be people?) I just think decisions about murder should be in a more orderly way and not a function of Cop rule. And I wonder what's next, Latinos and Asians? Surely a lot of those were conceived and/or raised by the racially impure.
"What's next?
A fireman tells us the most effective way to have a mass book burning.
It is a Brave New World."
No, that was Fahrenheit 451.
If you check the author's Twitter feed you'll see that this wasn't an innocent attempt at technical analysis but was, in fact, promoting the "toppling."
Disgraceful on the part of PM for publishing.
Next up: How to make a never-fail noose-knot.
I don't care about these statues, it's not as if they're destroying Rodin's The Thinker or Michelangelo's David ...
It’s coming. Just wait a little.
We've become a nation of pandering cowards posing as authority figures. Anybody with a split second of attention time has a bright new idea on how to tear it all down - with no inclination to DO THEIR JOB.
An enlightened society understands that there is an element of public art that is transcendent. It is part of the artist and it is the element that evokes emotion, controversy and discussion.
R. Hinton Perry was the master sculptor who created the Court of Neptune Fountain that sits in front of the Library of Congress. A magnificent work. He also created the John Castleman statue of a man astride a horse. Castleman was the father of the beautiful parks system in Louisville created by Frederick Law Olmstead -- happened to have served in the confederate army for a short time. He retired from the union army.
My point is that R. Hinton Perry, like all large scale master sculptures, only created 15 works in his lifetime. And he is considered prolific. And the "progressive" Louisville mayor, pandering to the mob, thought it right to ignore the transcendent beauty of this rare work, that the city was privileged to own, and take it down, and store it in a warehouse.
Enlightened?
I just love how the left - and only the left - gets to decide what stays and what goes.
Do you find your ancestors problematic? I have a feeling that they would find you absolutely appalling.
Dead racists can be hurt by damaging their statues — it’s SCIENCE!
trad, some day PM may publish how dig up the corpse of a bad person, fertilize an egg with his DNA, raise him from zygote to maturity, put him on trial, and torture him to avenge past wrongs.
What's next? Instructions on how to "necklace" political opponents with a tire and the best flammable liquid to use? I guess I should be waiting for the AARP to send me a "Stick it to the Man!" debit card so they don't get left behind. Good lord.
Sure let's topple statues: can conservatives play too? No? Why not? These people assume they are so right that they can over-ride the vote of 99% of the population that put up these statues (or 70%, whatever). This is arrogance of the highest order. But when you combine this with ignorance, you get the statues of freed slaves who fought for the Union toppled and a statue of Joan of Arc defaced (last round of statue warfare) and graves of soldiers from WWII defaced.
We also face the problem that all past historical figures were racists, even the brown/black/red ones. And almost no one past or present passes all purity tests (and if a saint are too religious to tolerate).
Jazz Shaw at Hot Air provides some useful background about James Stout, the author of the Popular Mechanics piece:
"...Digging a little further, we can look at Stout’s Linkedin page. He’s a professor of history [Adjunct] at Mesa [Community] College and his varied interests definitely have strong hints of social justice reform running through them. So while his science may be solid, it’s not hard to imagine that this article was printed with a message in mind other than how to most safely and efficiently remove a large metal object.
Or, you can just go scroll through the most recent entries in Stout’s Twitter feed and learn all you need to know. The mystery will be solved if you do. Full-blown leftist craziness, publishing under the rather thin veneer of presenting a scientific discussion.
I wonder if Popular Mechanics will come to regret the decision to approve this piece..."
https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2020/06/17/hmmm-popular-mechanics-offers-advice-tear-statue/
Except that Stout's 34.2K twitter feed has now (unsurprisingly) gone dark:
james stout
@jamesstout
historian of anti-fascism in sport, journalist, insulin user, immigrant, nonprofit
@pascuayaquibike
. used to be a bike racer. DM for my signal. he/him
bit.ly/3gp3uZ9Joined January 2009
2,061 Following
1,888 Followers
These Tweets are [now] protected
Only approved followers can see @jamesstout’s Tweets. To request access, click Follow.
His Linkin page is still up, however, and includes this information:
In 2016 I obtained my doctorate in Catalan history, focusing on sports as a way of promoting regional identity and national self-conception in the Second Republic. In 2019, I published my first book "playing as if the world was watching" which looks at sport, antifascism, and the Popular Front in the 1930s.
I teach World and US History at [San Diego] Mesa [Community] College [as an Adjunct Professor] and work as a freelance writer covering sport, the outdoors, and their intersection with social and political issues. I have written for outlets including Business Insider, Gear Patrol, Men's Journal, Popular Mechanics and Red Bulletin.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jestout
Post a Comment