Althouse: I only have 3 TikToks today. Maybe you'll like at least one!

June 9, 2022

I only have 3 TikToks today. Maybe you'll like at least one!

1. Moms talk about what words you can't use in their house.

2. A man tests out the Acapella app with the Scottish folk song "Water Is Wide."

3. Human composting.

21 comments:

Temujin said...: Well...I couldn't get through #1, but #2 and #3 both blew me away. The first try with Acapella app was outstanding. The human composting left me with many more questions. I may have to read up on this company.

Acapella wins.
But human composting leaves me curious to know more.; 6/9/22, 9:01 PM
Curious George said...: 0-3. Strike out. Grab some bench. Sorry.; 6/9/22, 9:02 PM
Mea Sententia said...: I like #3. It's a gentle, intriguing alternative.; 6/9/22, 9:10 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Why did althouse use an exclamation point here?

For business stuff I correspond w/ folks that are always adding exclamation points to their writing. And it makes me more than a wee bit annoyed.

WTF?

Even worse, some of the folks I email w/ are somewhat old, though none are nearly are as golden-years-y as Althouse, so it’s not just that these folks are yutes that don’t know better because they think that gals w/ dicks should compete w/ the sans dick gals (re sports), and other such woke stuff.

Why is emerita law prof doing this exclamation point bullshit? If forced to choose, I’d prefer dicked gals swimming w/ the dickless gals rather than seeing all these exclamation points all over the place. Not that I’m for allowing the dick v no-dick thing. It seems mean to expect that the dickless can compete w/ the dicked re swimming.

Likewise, it seems like chest feeding is gonna be easier for those w/ breasts.

Just sayin!; 6/9/22, 9:36 PM
Critter said...: Definitely number 2. He is reconnecting with his foundation, and you can see the sincerity on his face. Great stuff.

#1 is silly.

#3 is repulsive. To equate the value of a human life with the very small value of humans in composting is valueless. Also reminds of Soylent Green, the movie that captures the atheist view of human life.; 6/9/22, 10:17 PM
David Begley said...: #2. Hands down.

#3 So how is God going to raise your body up on the Last Day if it is scattered in a garden?

Part of me thinks that this body composting would be a great business opportunity on the coasts. The Jesuit-educated part of me thinks this is one of the most degrading, disgusting and nearly immoral things I’ve ever seen. Your body is a temple of the Lord. You were made in the image and likeness of God. With this business, your body has the same moral worth of a half eaten apple.

And how about that gong? Kinda, sorta religious but certainly the Leftist company can’t go quasi-Christian with a chant or organ music.

Thanks to Ann to alerting me to this depravity.; 6/9/22, 10:54 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: The acapella app clip was nice.; 6/10/22, 5:03 AM
tim maguire said...: I like human composting. If I'm not really dead and I wake up after my burial, it looks like I can get out without too much fuss.; 6/10/22, 6:11 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Is #3 really something that is being done? I can't imagine receiving the "compost" of your recently departed loved one. In a way it makes more sense than sprinkling "cremains" in the backyard.

Imagine using the "compost" in your vegetable garden? You could go from vegetarianism to cannibalism in one fell swoop.; 6/10/22, 7:05 AM
David Begley said...: Althouse, “Imagine using the "compost" in your vegetable garden? You could go from vegetarianism to cannibalism in one fell swoop.”

I laughed and laughed at that line.; 6/10/22, 7:09 AM
Temujin said...: I can see me paying someone to take my composted remains and secretly scatter them on the outskirts of some vineyard in Napa or Sonoma. A few years later, at a wine tasting in San Francisco, a wine maven remarks to the attendees that "this Cabernet has aromas of tobacco and cedar, with a long finish revealing hints of leather, black pepper, and a bit of Temujin.

Seriously- it seems like the most natural way for the body to degrade. What do you think happens to you in the casket? This seems a better alternative to me. I just wouldn't want a large container of 'my' soil being delivered to my wife.

I know some religions do not allow for cremation, but this seems a very natural way for the physical body to go.; 6/10/22, 7:34 AM
Quaestor said...: Number 2 (Really. I'm not shitting ya)

I learned that tune when I took bagpipe lessons, but it has a Gaelic name, O Waly Waly, (wah-LEE) which means an unfordable stand of water. I didn't know there were English lyrics until I saw the 1984 Anthony Hopkins film The Bounty.

Good movie, that. Got some nasty reviews from idiots like Gene Siskel, but it's the only cinematic treatment of that famous voyage that gets the story even half right. The Clark Gable/Charles Lawton film is a fantasy, the Marlon Brando/Trevor Howard version is worse still. Several cast members went on to great things -- Mel Gibson and Liam Neeson notably. Dexter Fletcher, the chap for played S/Sgt. John Martin in "Band of Brothers", played a very young boy sailor. The RN had a lot of those in 1787.

The entire fiasco was the fault of Sir Joseph Banks, the head of Kew Gardens and one of George III's chums, who dreamed up the breadfruit expedition in the first place. Not only did he conceive the mission, but he also selected the ship and designed its modifications into a seagoing hothouse. The Bethia, built as a collier to carry coal from Newcastle to London, was purchased by the Admiralty and renamed Bounty by Sir Joseph personally.

By her length and tonnage, the Navy rated Bounty as a cutter, i.e. a coastal patrol craft suitable for revenue enforcement duties. But Joe Banks, who knew his herbs and flowers okay, intended Bounty for a circumnavigation. By the book, a cutter was commanded by a lieutenant, not a full captain, so William Bligh, one of James Cook's navigators and Banks' personal choice (again!), didn't get promoted. Nor did he get a detachment of marines, or any commissioned officers to assist him. Bligh was expected to sail an overcrowded little ship to the other side of the planet with two warrant officers (one inexperienced, the other a drunk), a handful of midshipmen, and a bunch of wharf scrapings and lubbers to haul and draw. The fact that he got all but one of the loyal crew safely 3,500 sea miles to Timor in an open boat was the feat of a real hero.

Psychologically, Fletcher Christain was like Dylan Klebold -- a screw-up adolescent unable to cope with his urges.; 6/10/22, 7:50 AM
Leslie Graves said...: Scottish song, but that might be because I love that song.; 6/10/22, 7:57 AM
farmgirl said...: David- is it b/c it sounds ludicrous or b/c it sounds like such a looney idea that- of course! It will be done eventually? I suggest this:

https://study.com/academy/lesson/jonathan-swifts-a-modest-proposal-summary-analysis-quiz.html

This is how it’s done! When we studied this in high school, our little Sr. Literature laughed and laughed. We thought she was nuts. Yet, here we are- (un)Planned Hood selling livers and hearts of the unborn for (non)profit.

Our ultra(sound) society is perverse and morally corrupt.

https://www.amazon.com/Corrupt-Bodies-Dealing-London-Morgue/dp/1785785524

PS- it’s amazing what one finds in go*gle. I thought corrupt bodies meant defiled. And I believe this author does, too.; 6/10/22, 8:00 AM
Quaestor said...: Imagine using the "compost" in your vegetable garden? You could go from vegetarianism to cannibalism in one fell swoop.

There is a cultural phenomenon known as endocannibalism, eating your dead relations as a funerary rite. Some Papuan tribes do this, and a devastating neurological disease called kuru is thought to be caused by such meals.

I entertained a similar idea during one of those alcohol-fueled bull sessions. The conversation turned to death and the fundamentally wasteful practice of Christain burial, which includes the not necessarily wasteful burial at sea. I fancied I'd choose to be cremated and my ashes scattered on one of those Kentucky broodmare paddocks. Perhaps some of my calcium could become part of a Triple Crown winner. (Belmont tomorrow!).; 6/10/22, 8:08 AM
mikee said...: My 15 year old dog died two days ago of heart failure, quite suddenly, without a long illness. Our other dog, 13 years old, kept her company in her last hours with me as she succumbed to the sedatives we gave her, and has been notably lonely since the death. I dug my old girl dog a hole and buried her about 2.5 feet down in a corner of the back yard, and covered the mound of dirt with some large limestone blocks to prevent coyotes from investigating her grave. I am not comparing this to the burial of a human, but it seemed appropriate treatment for a longtime family pet.

My wife told her coworkers about this, and was immediately told by her well-off boss that all that was unnecessary. There is a service, she was told, which will come pick up your sick pet, euthanize it, cremate it, and return to you a nice urn of ashes in a day or so. All for only about $500 or $600. My wife said it took a lot of self control not to laugh out loud at her, or smack her a good one.

I won't talk about my uncle's funeral, the last human death ceremony I attended, except to say that living 800 miles from my family was a wise choice I have never regretted.; 6/10/22, 8:45 AM
Charlie said...: After watching all three I've concluded that Tik-Tok was a mistake and it needs to be composted.; 6/10/22, 9:56 AM
LH in Montana said...: Regarding burying pets directly in the ground, I can offer a story from a family member...Recently, she was getting landscaping at her home in Las Vegas when they discovered bones. She could tell the bones were small and likely from a pet. But a nosey neighbor learned about the bones and argued that she needed to call the police to investigate the remains. She explained that the remains were clearly too small to be human and appeared to be a dog. Still, the neighbor called the police. So, the landscaping had to put on hold while police and CSI were diverted from important issues to dig up the dead pet, then bag and catalogue the bones, which were sent to the lab for analysis. The police told her it could be years before they are able to do an analysis because of the backlog. At least the landscapers could finally complete their project.; 6/10/22, 10:02 AM
MadisonMan said...: The last thing I want after a loved-one dies is the soil they (along with straw and other assorted digestibles) have been turned into. OMG.; 6/10/22, 10:22 AM
ngtrains said...: our local paper had an article on "stones' that are created using ashes from a cremation. Ashes are mixed with material and baked in a kiln to become a ceramic that can be used in a garden or yard. Seems to me it makes more sense than an urn for the mantlepiece.
ted; 6/10/22, 11:28 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I know the song "Water Is Wide" from the first Roger McGuinn solo album.; 6/10/22, 11:55 AM