Althouse

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• 5:35 a.m.
• Stop the nay-saying — neigh-saying? — this is delightful and lovable.
• Here's one of those headlines where it's hard to tell the nouns from the verbs and the illusion of something that's not there — dogs — is completely distracting.
• "The problem with woke and with cancel culture is that it is never done. The conflict and divisions never end. This is not what the people of the UK want — but it’s coming anyway...."
• "I love the idea that, with a trailer park, you’re in a kind of community. At my age, if I fall down in the middle of the street, I want someone to go, 'Hey! What’s that girl doing in the middle of the street?'"
• "The evening’s first ritual was a name-changing ceremony: The desert became the ocean; peyote became chayote squash."
• How a male audiobook narrator does female voices.

5:35 a.m. Posted: 05 Jul 2021 07:41 AM PDT

Stop the nay-saying — neigh-saying? — this is delightful and lovable. Posted: 05 Jul 2021 07:03 AM PDT I wish they could bring John Denver back to life just so he could sue Mark Zuckerberg for this. pic.twitter.com/SDAWsIByOh — The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) July 4, 2021 Via Instapundit, who says "But since this didn't happen by accident, why is Zuck suddenly trying to look like a patriotic redneck? Because there's a reason." There are depths, presumably, but purely superficially, it's delightful and lovable. It's silly, corny Americana. Perfect for the 4th (the 5th).  And it makes a nice contrast to that NYT article we were all reading yesterday: "A Fourth of July Symbol of Unity That May No Longer Unite/In a Long Island town, neighbors now make assumptions, true and sometimes false, about people who conspicuously display American flags." Politicians of both parties have long sought to wrap themselves in the flag. But something may be changing: Today, flying the flag from the back of a pickup truck or over a lawn is increasingly seen as a clue, albeit an imperfect one, to a person's political affiliation in a deeply divided nation.  Supporters of former President Donald J. Trump have embraced the flag so fervently — at his rallies, across conservative media and even during the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol — that many liberals.... worry that the left has all but ceded the national emblem to the right.

Here's one of those headlines where it's hard to tell the nouns from the verbs and the illusion of something that's not there — dogs — is completely distracting. Posted: 05 Jul 2021 06:49 AM PDT Here, at Politico: "Virus lab leak theory dogs Democrats eager to keep focus on Trump's Covid failings." I might be interested in this topic, but I'm distracted by "theory dogs." Theory dogs — it could be a comic strip I'd like to read. What are the theory dogs thinking about today? And how about that one dog, the so-called "virus lab"? It's such a jumble of words to sort out at the beginning — Virus lab leak theory dogs. Does that Lab need to go out to take a leak? Yes, I know covid is serious, which is why I'm saying that "dogs" did not belong in that headline. It's an exciting and pithy verb. I get it. But people fixate on dogs, the beloved house mammals, and that's going to tip us into reading "dogs" as a noun. And so soon after "lab." You just tumble into fantasy land. But let's consider the real meaning. Apparently, Democrats don't like the idea of misdoings at the Chinese level because they're hot to blame Trump for as much as they can. I'll just observe that the Democrats have a big stake in portraying themselves as the ones who are dedicated to science and rationality. Stamping a political template on everything degrades that image. Now, I'll read the article: President Joe Biden's order to the intelligence community in May to redouble efforts to study the virus' origins has given the issue more currency, though China isn't cooperating and the administration hasn't said whether it has uncovered new information. Democrats worry that murky conclusions that don't identify the origin of the virus could play into the Republicans' hands, while evidence that might disprove the lab leak theory will trigger more accusations of a cover-up. There's fear of investigations that are too difficult to carry out and not certain to be conclusive. That's antithetical to a commitment to science.

"The problem with woke and with cancel culture is that it is never done. The conflict and divisions never end. This is not what the people of the UK want — but it’s coming anyway...." Posted: 05 Jul 2021 06:05 AM PDT "Woke begets woke. It's a narrative that Labour is promoting now but the Conservatives will pick it up as a reaction. The damage and the consequences of that chasm is awful. When you have decided that your country is institutionally racist and discriminatory you don't normally go back.... I'm seeing things that you are going to see six months to a year from now. It's already done significant damage to our system in the United States. It prioritises equality over meritocracy. We're becoming intolerant of tolerance.... We are writing each other off and out of our lives. The damage and the consequences of that chasm is awful. The consequences are so significant, less cooperation, less compromise, more negativity." Said the American pollster Frank Luntz, quoted in the London Times, in "'Woke' culture war is biggest dividing line among voters."

"I love the idea that, with a trailer park, you’re in a kind of community. At my age, if I fall down in the middle of the street, I want someone to go, 'Hey! What’s that girl doing in the middle of the street?'" Posted: 05 Jul 2021 05:55 AM PDT Said Betsey Johnson, who is 78, and don't you want to do 78 — when and if you are ever 78 — with equivalent élan? Quoted in "Inside Betsey Johnson's Malibu Dream House/The designer gives T a tour of her pretty but punk home in one of California's most scenic trailer parks" (NYT).  "I realized, 'I've got to create a new house for myself.' And I decided that it was going to be a dollhouse." Feast your eyes on the punk dollhouse:

"The evening’s first ritual was a name-changing ceremony: The desert became the ocean; peyote became chayote squash." Posted: 05 Jul 2021 04:55 AM PDT "Name changing helps the pilgrims envision entering a new world. The pilgrims also underwent a public confession around midnight, during which each person listed all their past and present sexual relationships. The names were then publicly read around the bonfire; the intention was to let go of the past. Each of the relationships was tied as a knot on individual palm branches. The branches were then burned in the fire." From "Inside a Peyote Pilgrimage/Drug tourists, mining companies and farming encroachment are threatening the Wixárika people's annual hunt for the psychedelic plant in the Mexican desert" (NYT).  From the comments:  The premise of the article is that drug tourists are threatening the abundance and stability of this fragile ecosystem and the indigenous sacred practices that belong there. Got it. So the NYTimes sends a writer and photographer who microdose and tell the reader exactly where the peyote fields are. Cue the stampede for the Burning Man crowd. I'm just wondering if there were any discussions in the editorial office about the ethics of this piece?

How a male audiobook narrator does female voices. Posted: 05 Jul 2021 12:48 PM PDT This is a fascinating and technical discussion:  I found that when I was looking for discussion of how a female narrator does male voices. I'd just finished an audiobook that had a very skillful female narrator, but after watching the movie of the same book, I realized how much the narrator had influenced how I thought about the male character in the book.  She was great at producing a lower pitch for the male, but she also used a somewhat morose, gruff, flat tone. Maybe this particular character deserved that interpretation, but is that what the author intended? It's not really any different from the way actors in the movie have their interpretation of the character and don't and can't simply channel the author. But I wondered whether female audiobook narrators are relying on a stereotype of men — that they are emotionally flat. Here's an opinion I've read in a few different places: When female audiobook narrators do males they sound like all women sound when they are mocking men and doing a "male" voice. That might be a reason to prefer male audiobook narrators, but I've certainly noticed that a lot of them rely on the idea of women as gentle and restrained or bubbly and lightweight. The video above shows a male narrator — Travis Baldree — who is impressively serious about producing a full range of female characters. What books does he narrate?  I looked it up. Not the sort of thing I'd read, but here's "Shadeslinger: The Ripple System, Book 1."  It's LitRPG. I need to look up what that is. Per Wikipedia:  LitRPG, short for Literary Role Playing Game, is a literary genre combining the conventions of computer RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels.... [G]ames or game-like challenges form an essential part of the story, and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience. RPGs — I had to look that up too — are role-playing video games, "where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immersed in some well-defined world, usually involving some form of character development by way of recording statistics." It's funny to think of wanting to set aside the game and read that in a book, but then again, why trouble yourself with playing a game when you can just read the game-like story? And with the audiobook, you can get out of the house, go walking and running and doing your errands or commuting. You can't do those things while playing a videogame. FROM THE EMAIL: Scott sends the "obligatory Seinfeld reference": AND: Andrew writes: "This is one of those rare times when Seinfeld is not the go-to reference. Rather, it's Elizabeth Holmes from Theranos" — here. "If you wish to manipulate, use a deeper voice." It's weird that her manipulation worked — apparently on some ridiculous older men. To me, she sounds like a huge phony. Which is what she was.

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