It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend, and presumably all y’all are dealing with the likely less than pleasant results of epic food comas caused by eating and drinking FAR too much on Turkey Day itself. Hopefully y’all avoided the utter lunacy of Black Friday sales, in which people get into full-on brawls over who can get that very last UHD+ TV discounted at 85% or more.
From a foreign perspective, this sort of disgracefully boorish behaviour is completely incomprehensible. We just don’t get America’s consumption-obsessed culture, especially on days like Black Friday.
Evidently quite a lot of Americans themselves are increasingly coming around to the notion that it is utterly stupid to get so worked up over in-store sales, and are resorting to doing most of their Thanksgiving-period shopping online. So today, apparently, is Cyber Monday, which means that most of you are sitting at work and only barely paying attention to what you’re supposed to do.
Don’t worry, that’s totally cool, I won’t judge you for it. In fact, my goal today is to provide you with plenty of distractions to keep you from working while you read through the fun stuff in this post.
To get us started, let’s help you relive some of the most absurd moments from Black Friday:
***
Unfortunately, wanton American consumerism has infected the rest of the world:
Black Friday fever has spread across the world with carnage breaking out in stores and shoppers clambering over each other to snap up deals.
Scuffles broke out amid chaotic scenes at one store in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where crowds of bargain hunters scrambled to get their hands on cheap televisions.
Footage purportedly taken this morning also shows frantic shoppers storming into shops in South Africa.
The clip was reportedly captured at ‘game’ in Baywest Mall, Port Elizabeth, as its metal shutters were opened for the day.
A separate video shot at an unknown location in South Africa shows an armed guard patrolling a mall as crowds descend on a shop. A man can be seen desperately trying to beat queues by scrambling over a metal barrier.
In Barakaldo, near Bilbao, Spain, long queues were pictured outside a department store advertising Black Friday deals.
There was Black Friday disruption elsewhere in Spain, when Workers at Amazon’s biggest logistics centre in the country went on strike.
Employees at Amazon’s San Fernando de Henares facility near Madrid have been demanding better wages and work conditions for months and have already staged several strikes this year. It was unclear exactly how many employees had stopped work.
Ana Berceruelo of the CCOO union told AFP the centre, which prepares packages for clients in Spain and other European countries, ‘is at a complete standstill. Lorries are not entering, nor are they leaving.’
Can confirm. I can personally attest to the fact that in both Singapore and Russia, the exact same thing happened last week. Big shopping malls in Moscow were packed to overflowing with shoppers looking to take advantage of discounts of up to 90% in some stores. It was madness. And Singapore, the culture of which pretty much revolves around 24×7 shopping, is even worse.
There is a lot to like and love about American culture. Its obsession with buying useless shit on credit, though, is not one of those things.
***
In case you’re interested, here is a list of very simple concepts and words that Russian simply cannot handle:
“Thirsty” is the gigantic elephant in the room when it comes to the richness of the Russian language. We just don’t have it. You heard right: there is no word in Russian to signify the state of being thirsty. Which, if you think about it, is quite crazy, given that other Slavic languages do have one. Take the Serbian phrase “zhedan sam” – I’m thirsty.
In Russian, we weirdly have a noun – “zhazhda,” but no verb or adjective to go with it! The closest you’ll get is “I want to drink.”
That’s the really weird thing about the Russian language. You get these incredibly precise, amazingly beautiful – and fiendishly complex to pronounce – words that are like 5 syllables, or longer, each, which describe with perfect accuracy emotions and ideas that have simply no equivalent in English.
But the moment you want to say something as simple as “sibling” – ye cannae do it, Cap’n!
***
What exactly is the point of Thanksgiving? Michael Medved from Prager U has a go at exploding some of the more stupid myths about the best of the American holidays:
Americans – real Americans – have long believed that their country was created through an act of Divine providence. Looking at the absurdly improbably ways in which America came to be, it is simply not possible for a rational man to conclude that it all happened by accident.
In my mind there is NO question that America is – or was – God’s own country. America was created by the Hand of the Lord, to serve as a beacon of hope, and then a warning, to the entire world.
***
Will Witt from Prager U decided to see what would happen if he and his black friend walked onto a college campus dressed up as an Indian (feather, not dot) and a pilgrim. It… didn’t go too well:
Leftism really is a brain-eating disease desperately in need of a cure.
***
What’s the German word for… schadenfreude?
According to Disney’s recently released annual report, sports network ESPN has lost 2 million domestic subscribers over the course of 2018.
Disney’s report revealed that the company’s sports network, ESPN, currently has 86 million subscribers. This is down two million from the 88 million subscribers to the sports commentary and news station in 2017.
ESPN wasn’t the only Disney-owned network to lose subscribers this year: The Disney Channel went from 92 million subscribers in 2017 to 89 million subscribers in 2018, while Freeform fell by two million subscribers to 90 million, and Disney Junior and Disney XD both lost approximately three million subscribers.
The network’s declining subscriber counts, based on estimates by Nielsen Media Research, indicate that the growing popularity of online streaming services and internet live streaming products such as YouTube Live and Hulu have resulted in a decline in traditional television network subscriptions. Disney is attempting to alleviate this issue with the launch of their own online streaming service, Disney Plus, expected to be launched in 2019.
Disney launched ESPN Plus, an online sports streaming service, in early 2018 and claims that the service has received approximately one million subscribers so far. However, it appears that their traditional television network subscriber numbers are continuing to decline.
ESPN has come under fire this year for the inclusion of political elements within their coverage and has been accused of a left-leaning bias. Breitbart News reporter Warner Todd Huston reported in Februray 2017 that the network was losing subscribers at a rapid pace as a result of the network’s political move, according to the latest fiscal report, Huston was correct.
***
Jeff from Athlean-X did a video a couple of years ago in which he talked about how Zac Efron managed to improve his physique over a year in preparation for his role in Baywatch. Evidently the comments about “MUH JUICE!!!” got him severely riled up, and he launched straight into an EPIC rant to tell his own fans off for being dumbasses:
Jeff is right. It is completely achievable and reasonable for a an already fit guy to add 10-15lbs of lean, strong, dense muscle to his frame over the course of one single year, simply by adding heavy compound lifts, i.e. the Holy Trinity of SQUAT, DEADLIFT, and BENCH PRESS to his workouts – without ever injecting steroids.
I am living proof of this. I am nobody’s idea of a ripped and jacked underwear model – I am none of those things. I’m just a big dude who likes to lift heavy shit. And I’ve been lifting heavy shit for over 7 years now. In the very first year, I lost something like 20lbs of fat and gained at least 10lbs of muscle – at minimum. I still don’t know exactly how much I gained or lost because I never tracked my weight at the time.
But I did it all without steroids, and I did not start taking DHEA (which by the way is not actually a testosterone derivative and is completely legal to buy in any supplement store in the USA) until at least 2 years later.
Gains of 10-15lbs of muscle mass without steroids are easy, at almost ANY age, if you follow a rigourous, disciplined, careful programme of heavy lifting combined with high-intensity cardio and agility drills, and ensure that you get plenty of good rest and follow a solid diet.
That’s literally it. Lift heavy shit. Move fast for short periods of time. Get plenty of high-quality rest. Eat lots of the best-quality food that you can afford. Drink clean water.
Above all – DO THE DAMN WORK. Class dismissed.
***
Our beloved and dreaded Supreme Dark Lord (PBUH) Voxemortus Malevolus continues on his train of thought with respect to rethinking capitalism, and the misguided criticisms that he received therefore:
It is always pretty interesting to watch Vox Day dissect criticisms directed toward him by even his loyal readers. His marked lack of tolerance for stupidity and bullshit is always very much on display. And he provides some valuable lessons for the rest of us when it comes to dealing with criticism – both justified and not.
***
John Wick, and its follow-up, John Wick: Chapter 2, were two of the best action movies ever made. And here is why:
***
The last time that I watched a genuine bona fide superhero movie in the theatres was… umm… I’m honestly having a hard time remembering. And I have not even bothered with Man of Steel, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, or any of the other DCEU franchise films. The last really great superhero film that I saw in a theatre was, of course, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.
And that, as the following video explains, is precisely the problem that DC and Warner Bros. have to deal with right now:
***
#BasedTucker:
***
Owen Benjamin. Holocaust joke. Pure awesomeness. Watch and learn:
***
Classic jokes about gays and lesbians from back in the days when you could actually make such things:
***
Pics from Power Line and others:
***
Gym idiots and bullshido time, of course:
Dude, YGBFKM.
There is absolutely no way that a teacher has any right to advance himself in rank. Only his students can legitimately do that.
I know this better than most. Four years ago, the students of my own teacher held a ceremony to advance him to the rank of Grandmaster. It was a thoroughly deserved promotion and was done with the full support of the entire Federation of martial arts schools, every single student from lowest to highest ranked, and total public transparency.
I still feel deep guilt about the fact that I was in London at the time, working on assignment, and had absolutely no way of getting back to the USA to attend that ceremony.
That is how you get promoted by others – not through some shady bullshit ceremony where you promote yourself.
Lord, but I hate bullshido artists…
***
And now for a martial arts monster and a true gym beast to rectify those egregious offences against common sense and good form:
***
Related – Larry Wheels goes full Thor:
***
#EternalFlamesOfMetal
***
This week’s starting Instathot comes via America (for a change). In fact, she isn’t that much of a thot – her name is Paulina Gretzky, she happens to be the daughter of probably the greatest hockey player who ever lived, and she has two kids with her husband, a pro golfer. And, yeah, she’s gorgeous.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
1 Comment
As always, thanks for the collected goodness – loved the Christian metal band you posted a while back from the first riff, and these all look worth trying out as well.
Seeing these guys in a few weeks. No, not metal, but love their stuff. youtu.be/zUCTSxQ-u28